Chopra Names Eric Halperin and Lorelei Salas to Lead CFPB Enforcement and Supervision Divisions

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra recently announced the appointment of Lorelei Salas and Eric Halperin, two former Obama administration officials, to lead the Bureau’s supervision and enforcement efforts. The CFPB has used supervision and enforcement to return billions of dollars to consumers and crack down on companies engaged in allegedly illegal actions.

Chopra said that Salas and Halperin “are both distinguished public servants with deep expertise in consumer protection. Together, they will be effective watchdogs over the financial marketplace, especially when it comes to stopping repeat offenders.”

Salas will be joining the Bureau as Assistant Director for Supervision Policy as well as Acting Assistant Director for Supervision Examinations. She most recently served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, where under her leadership, the agency pursued corporations that used predatory practices to target low-income and immigrant consumers. She also previously served as director of strategic enforcement at the Department of Labor.

Under the Obama administration, Halperin, named Assistant Director of the Office of Enforcement, worked in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division as acting deputy attorney general to oversee the fair housing, fair lending, and employment non-discrimination enforcement program. According to Bloomberg Law, Chopra told senators that the CFPB would focus its enforcement unit on fair lending and racial equity.  

Before being named Assistant Director for the Office of Enforcement at the CFPB, Halperin served as executive director of the Civil Rights Corps., a legal defense nonprofit organization.