CFPB enforcement lead resigns, slams ‘attack’ on core mission in departure email

Cara Petersen, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s acting enforcement director, resigned from the agency on Tuesday. In an email to colleagues announcing her decision, Petersen slammed the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, which was established as a banking watchdog following the 2008 global financial crisis.

Cara Petersen, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s acting enforcement director, resigned from the agency on Tuesday. In an email to colleagues announcing her decision, Petersen slammed the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, which was established as a banking watchdog following the 2008 global financial crisis. “I have served under every Director and Acting Director in the Bureau’s history and never before have I seen the ability to perform our core mission so under attack,” Petersen wrote in an email seen by CNN. “It is clear that the Bureau’s current leadership has no intention to enforce the law in any meaningful way.” The CFPB, which is tasked with ensuring banks, lenders and other financial companies play fair with consumers, has been thrown into chaos since President Donald Trump took office this year. The agency has faced several mass layoff attempts and abruptly decided to dismiss cases against several companies. The CFPB was an early target of the Trump administration’s downsizing efforts, but its undoing has largely been blocked in federal court. Republicans have long wanted to close down the agency, whose creation was spearheaded by Elizabeth Warren, now a Democratic senator from Massachusetts. The agency was established as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, a 2010 federal law enacted to address the financial vulnerabilities that contributed to the global financial crisis. As of January 2025, the CFPB has delivered $19.7 billion in consumer relief since its creation, with 195 million people eligible for that relief, according to the agency. This year, the CFPB abruptly dropped cases against multiple companies that had previously been accused of hurting consumers, like Capital One, Rocket Homes and a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, according to court filings. The decision to abandon the cases reflects the Trump administration’s hands-off approach to regulation.