CFPB Director Discusses Enforcement Against Individuals

CFPB Directors & Officers Enforcement

On January 8, in a Daily Show interview, CFPB Director Richard Cordray discussed with host Jon Stewart some of the Bureau’s efforts to date, including implementation of the CFPB’s mortgage rules and the Bureau's credit card add-on product enforcement actions. Director Cordray added that the Bureau will continue to take enforcement actions against individual officers and employees responsible for company wrongdoing, including by imposing officer-director bans, seeking disgorgement, and referring matters for criminal investigation. “There’s always officials and people in the company that make the decisions. So going after them for money, making them feel at risk, sometimes going after them to take them out of the business for a period of time, or referring them criminally if that is appropriate, that’s part of what we’re doing,” Cordray stated.

These comments mirror statements Director Cordray made last year, in which he cautioned that “[i]ndividuals need to know they’re at risk when they do bad things under the umbrella of a company.” The agency has already pursued individuals in several enforcement actions, and Director Cordray’s remarks suggest the Bureau will continue to devote resources toward investigating individual involvement in alleged company misconduct, along with the entities themselves.