CFPB heads of supervision and enforcement announce resignations after stop-work order

Two senior leaders at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced their resignations the day after acting Director Russell Vought instructed all staff to cease working.

In separate memos sent early Tuesday, Lorelei Salas, supervision director for the agency, and Eric Halperin, enforcement director, said they could no longer serve in their respective roles after Vought’s mandate, according to emails obtained by CNBC.

“The Bureau has been instructed to stand down,” Salas said. “I do not believe it is appropriate, nor lawful, to stop all supervisory activities and examinations, and I cannot longer serve as the Supervision Director.”

“I don’t believe in these conditions I can effectively serve in my role, which is protecting American consumers,” Halperin said. “Today I made the difficult decision to resign.”

A representative for the Office of Management and Budget, speaking on behalf of the CFPB, said in a statement to CNBC later Tuesday that Halperin and Salas had been placed on administrative leave prior to their announcements of resignation.

The departures add further to uncertainty at the CFPB, which has been targeted by trade groups and conservatives for years. The agency has aggressively policed financial firms and said in June that it has returned nearly $21 billion to consumers since its creation in 2011.

Halperin said that his office, charged with enforcing consumer protection mandates, secured $9.5 billion in fines or consumer redress since 2021.

Opponents of the agency have said that under former Director Rohit Chopra it reached beyond its legal authority in punishing banks and that his attempts to rein in industry fees would hurt consumers.

CFPB employees have been on edge since operatives of Elon Musk’s advisory group known as the Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the regulator late last week. Then Vought was named acting director, effective Friday, and he quickly said he would refuse fresh funding for the agency, shuttered its Washington, D.C., headquarters, and instructed staff to freeze all bureau work.

“I know you are concerned about your futures, the future of the bureau, and more importantly, the impact these sweeping changes will have on everyday consumers,” Salas wrote. “The ways in which you protect the American consumer cannot be captured in just a few sentences, and too many are unaware of the work you do behind the scenes.”