Senior CFPB Official Resigns, Citing No Path Forward for Enforcement Program
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s principal deputy enforcement director, Michael Salemi, announced his resignation last week, becoming the third enforcement leader to depart the agency this year amid the Trump Administration’s efforts to halt most CFPB investigations and litigation. Salemi, a longtime career staff member, told colleagues in an email that there was “no path to an effective future enforcement program” under current leadership. Salemi’s last day at the Bureau is scheduled for December 12.
The CFPB has paused nearly all enforcement work since Acting Director Russell Vought took charge in February. According to public reports, the Bureau has dismissed or terminated roughly 20 enforcement matters and filed only one new action. Cases previously resolved through settlements have been reconsidered or renegotiated to ease oversight requirements on companies. The operational freeze is occurring alongside warnings that more than 100 enforcement staff could be furloughed as Vought claims he cannot legally request additional funding from the Federal Reserve under the Trump Administration’s interpretation of the Dodd-Frank Act.
The Bureau is also transferring all active litigation, including enforcement cases, to the Department of Justice in anticipation of the funding exhaustion. Some legal observers have questioned the administration’s funding theory, noting that the CFPB has continued to receive Fed transfers despite recent central bank losses and that the issue could form the basis for additional litigation.
Industry and agency officials have defended the current approach as a shift toward what they describe as more “professional” enforcement practices, while former officials argue the Bureau’s core mission is being dismantled. The Trump Administration has nominated an interim director in a move widely seen as a technical one intended to extend Vought’s tenure. That means that the timing of any transition to permanent leadership remains uncertain.
