Sense. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Center, Amy Klobuchar, d-minn., And the chief of minorities of the Senate Charles Schumer, Dn.y., carry out a press conference after lunches on the policy of the Senate in the Capitol, March 14, 2017.
Tom Williams | CQ Call CQ | Getty images
Democratic legislators led by Massachusetts, Senator Elizabeth Warren, held a forum on Tuesday rejecting the movements that the Trump and Elon Musk administration took to neutralize the financial protection office of consumers.
The events of the event included a retired military veteran helped by the agency, a mortgage broker who said that the CFPB had helped reduce the abuse of the industry and the former office chief for supervision.
But the attention of senators was Elon Musk, the driving force behind the so-called ministry of government efficiency. While Musk was invited to the Washington event, DC, according to Warren, he did not appear.
The legislators wondered if Musk was in conflict in his efforts to dismantle the CFPB, highlighting his recent launching plan for a digital payment service within X, the social media network he owns.
“By taking control of the agency, Musk can now tell of all the CFPB confidential data to which DOGE has accessed on these potential competitors,” said Warren. “While Musk is launching his new application, he faces CFPB surveillance. His plan seems to be eliminating the watchdog.”
A representative of Musk and X did not immediately respond to the request for comments.
Earlier this month, DOGE agents had access to CFPB systems, shortly before the new office management closed the agency’s head office, frozen almost all activities and dismissed around 200 employees . A CFPB union allegedly allegedly in a trial that the acting director of the CFPB, Russell Vought, intended to dismiss more than 95% of the agency staff.
“Elon, how do you justify closing the agency that will watch your peer payment plan?” Senator Amy Klobuchar, d.-minn., Reticiously asked for the hearing on Tuesday. “How do you justify closing the agency that has competence and surveillance on many of the other financial problems that you will earn money?”
‘Secret sauce’
Responding to a question by senator Chris van Hollen, D.-MD., on what Musk could do with CFPB data, Lorelei Salas, former supervision director of the CFPB, said that the regulator had kept “information very sensitive secret “, especially from service payments PaypalCashapp and Zelle, as well as online lenders.
“We have examined a number of digital portfolio companies, payment companies, and we have information … about the technologies they use,” said Salas. “We have information on the secret sauce of credit models that people have used with artificial intelligence to make decisions about obtaining a loan or not.”
At the end of last year, the CFPB took measures to supervise technology giants and payment companies that dominate the market, including Apple And Paypal, and continued the operator of the Zelle Payments Network and the three largest American banks who use it for not having investigated complaints of fraud.
In addition to confidential data on companies examined by the CFPB, the agency has “very sensitive data” of consumers fileing complaints, added Salas. Consumers often leave account numbers and other personal data in their complaints, agency sources said.
Now, with the CFPB and its employees in a limbo state, the question is to what extent Musk and Vought can take their campaign to minimize the guard dog. A federal judge has interrupted his efforts, saying that they could not dismiss employees data or serve office data at the moment.
“The CFPB was sidelined, but it is not dead,” said Warren, saying that only the congress can close the office. “Lawyers are in court at the moment to ask the judges to enforce the law, and I am convinced that they will win.”