Thirty-two U.S. Senators issued a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") seeking to confirm whether its investigation into the Equifax data breach has been halted. The letter comes in response to a recent report suggesting that Acting Director Mulvaney relaxed the CFPB's investigation of the consumer reporting agency, which had been initiated by former Director Richard Cordray.

In the letter to Deputy Director Leandra English and Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, the Senators expressed concern over the state of the investigation and called on the CFPB to fulfill its "duty to investigate the harm to consumers and whether other federal consumer financial laws may have been violated." The Senators asked:

  1. Has the CFPB halted the Equifax investigation and, if so, why and under whose direction?
  2. Will the CFPB conduct on-site exams of Equifax and other consumer reporting agencies under its authority?
  3. If the CFPB investigation into the Equifax breach is still underway, what specific steps has the CFPB taken with respect to the investigation?
  4. Is the CFPB coordinating investigative efforts with the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC"), state law enforcement officials, or other federal regulators?

The senators requested a response by February 19, 2018.

In response to similar reporting on the state of the CFPB investigation, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) recently asked the FTC to commit additional resources to its investigation of the Equifax data breach.

Commentary / Joseph V. Moreno

Currently, the FTC, CFPB, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, each have asserted themselves into cybersecurity-related issues to varying degrees, along with a host of state-level Attorneys General and consumer protection agencies. Notwithstanding the high profile of the situation, it seems that such issues could be more efficiently handled by a single agency applying a uniform standard rather than a host of federal and state regulators. This is an area in which Congressional guidance and clarity might be welcome. That said, it is hard not to notice the irony that one of the signatories of the Congressional letter, Senator Elizabeth Warren, was largely responsible for designing the CFPB as an agency that is largely immune to Congressional pressure and oversight.

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