Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees were told Sunday to stay at home because their Washington, D.C., headquarters would be closed through Feb. 14, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.
The memo, from CFPB Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez, follows an email sent Saturday from newly installed acting CFPB Director Russell Vought which instructed staff to suspend nearly all activities of the regulator, including supervising financial firms.
On Monday morning, Vought reiterated the message in an agency-wide email, saying that employees needed clearance from chief legal officer Mark Paoletta to do anything related to CFPB business.
“Otherwise, employees should stand down from performing any work task,” Vought wrote.
The developments come amid concern about the fate of the CFPB and its staff after operatives from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the regulator late last week. The DOGE employees have been given access to CFPB data sources, including staff performance reviews, said people with knowledge of the situation who have asked for anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
Musk, who last year called for the deletion of the CFPB, on Friday posted “CFPB RIP” on his X social media platform.
Besides putting a freeze on nearly all CFPB activity with his inaugural memo, Vought on Saturday posted on X that he was halting the flow of fresh funding to the agency. “This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,” Vought wrote.
Vought, who was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s head of the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday, is one of the authors of Project 2025, the master plan to reshape the federal government.
The CFPB and a representative for Musk didn’t return requests for comment.
Layoffs, buyouts?
CFPB employees are bracing for the possibility of being put on administrative leave or laid off, similar to what Trump officials have attempted with the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to people at the bureau.
While there are roughly 1,700 CFPB employees, only a few hundred workers have positions which are mandated by law to exist, according to a person with knowledge of the agency.
Further, CFPB employees were told by management that the Trump administration’s buyout offer for federal employees is valid and that the agency would respect its terms, said the person.
“There are a lot of people who are very anxious, trying to figure out whether to take the deal,” this person said.
Mass layoffs or resignations would jeopardize the mission of the CFPB, created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent banks and other financial firms from exploiting Americans. Bank trade groups have long accused the CFPB of being unfair and have fought the agency’s rules in court, even unsuccessfully attempting to declare the agency unconstitutional.
At risk are several CFPB efforts that would’ve saved consumers tens of billions of dollars, including restrictions on credit card and overdraft fees, and a rule that would’ve removed $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of 15 million Americans.
