Putting an end to a 2014 lawsuit filed by payday lenders challenging the actions of federal regulators in Operation Choke Point, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a resolution to the action....more
Why it matters - Some bank vendors may cautiously smile when the FDIC makes a point that providing accounts and other services to payday lenders is fine, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) told banks by...more
Why it matters - A D.C. federal court judge issued a mixed ruling in a suit brought on behalf of payday lenders against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and the...more
A federal court in Washington DC has ruled that a lawsuit against federal bank regulators challenging “Operation Choke Point” may proceed. Operation Choke Point is a program begun by the United States Department of Justice...more
In a June 2014 alert, we discussed Community Financial Services Association vs. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a payday loan industry suit challenging on various grounds certain supervisory and interpretive statements...more
Regulatory Developments - NYDFS Announces Approval of First BitLicense Application from a Virtual Currency Firm: The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced Sept. 22 that it has approved...more
Why it matters A new report from the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) found that agency attorneys did not engage in professional misconduct by improperly targeting objectionable...more
During 2014, the number of enforcement actions brought by federal banking agencies1 continued a downward trend that began in 2011. Federal banking agencies issued 661 formal enforcement actions, representing more than a 55...more
At first blush, one might not expect the digital currency and firearm industries to have much in common – when was the last time you heard someone utter Bitcoin and guns in the same breath? Recently, however, the two...more
With the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that it had settled separate lawsuits against two small banks charged with facilitating consumer fraud through their relationships with third-party payment...more
Depending on whom you ask, Operation Choke Point has a promising future ahead of it – or will soon be history. The controversial initiative by the Department of Justice (DOJ) is intended to limit certain lenders and...more
While Director Cordray’s appearance at the House Financial Services Committee’s hearing on the CFPB’s fifth Semi-Annual Report yesterday was accompanied by the usual dose of political theater, his testimony did yield the...more
"Operation Choke Point," the coordinated multiagency federal effort to choke off banking services to alleged fraudsters (according to its defenders) or politically unpopular industries (according to its detractors), has come...more