stop investigating financial abuse

The acting director has directed the consumer financial watchdog to cease addressing financial abuse.

On January 22, 2025, Russell Vought appeared before the Senate Banking Committee at his nomination hearing held at the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, DC. Getty Images/Kayla Bartkowski/File
CNN —
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recently appointed acting director, Russell Vought, ordered all staff members to cease almost all work on Saturday night, including combating financial abuse.

Vought wrote in the email, which CNN viewed, "Effective immediately, unless expressly approved by the Acting Director or required by law, all employees, contractors, and other personnel of the bureau shall…cease all supervision and examination activity."

This effectively means that the country's leading consumer financial watchdog has been removed from the streets and is unable to conduct oversight.

3 that mandated that CFPB employees cease issuing rules, halt the issuance of rules that have not yet been published or issued, refrain from releasing public communications, and cease filing court cases other than requesting a pause.


On Saturday evening, Vought added supervision to the freeze by restating the tasks that Bessent had instructed staff to cease.

In his email, Vought stated that he was appointed acting director by President Donald Trump on Friday.

Vought wrote, "As Acting Director, I am dedicated to carrying out the President's policies in accordance with the law and serving as a faithful steward of the Bureau's resources."

CNN's request for comment from the CFPB was not answered.

Bessent was urged to "rescind what appears to be an illegal stop work order" in a letter signed on Saturday by dozens of House Democrats.

A person familiar with the situation told CNN that after Vought, who heads the Office of Management and Budget, assumed the role of acting director of the CFPB on Friday night, representatives from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency closed the banking watchdog's X account.

According to the source, DOGE officials have been given administrative access to CFPB systems, such as the active directory of personnel, the back-end systems for the bureau's website, and the content management system, CNN reported.