February 24, 2025 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — After speaking out on CBS News’ 60 Minutes about risks to consumers stemming from the Trump Administration’s clampdown on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the former heads of the enforcement and supervision divisions at the agency, along with the CFPB’s former student loan ombudsman, are available for media interviews. They can discuss why it’s urgent for the agency to be able to get back to work protecting consumers from financial fraud and crimes.
The Trump Administration muzzled the consumer protection agency tasked with ensuring that financial services providers follow the law in early February, ordering a halt to all supervisory and investigative activities; all law enforcement work, including new investigations as well as lawsuits related to enforcement actions already initiated by the agency; and all communication with the public. New CFPB leadership is also refusing to comply with nearly 90 congressional mandates designed to protect consumers. Recently, dozens of staff—including the student loan ombudsman—were illegally fired by CFPB leadership, and this week, agency headquarters remain closed for the third week in a row.
Late last week, the Trump-led CFPB moved to withdraw from a lawsuit against predatory online SoLo Funds, which had been sued by the agency last year for deceiving borrowers about the total cost of loans and using digital “dark patterns” to trick borrowers. The CFPB’s complaint noted that almost all of SoLo’s loans carried an annual percentage rate of over 36 percent APR, and many loans carried an APR in excess of 300 percent. The company has faced a class action lawsuit, as well as actions from state regulators in California, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.
CFPB experts available for interviews to discuss why the CFPB must be allowed to get back to work include:
- Eric Halperin, former director of enforcement, CFPB. Eric Halperin was the Enforcement Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from October 2021 to February 2025, where he led the 250-person Enforcement Division. Under his leadership, the Division secured orders for $9.5 billion in relief for consumers and penalties against companies for violating consumer protection laws. From 2010 to 2014, Halperin served in leadership roles in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, first as Special Counsel for Fair Lending and later as Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General overseeing the Division’s fair housing, fair lending, and employment enforcement programs. From 1998 to 2004, he was a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division. In addition to his government service, Halperin has held leadership roles in the non-profit sector, including as the Director of the Center for Responsible Lending’s Litigation Program and its Washington office.
- Lorelei Salas, former director of supervision, CFPB. Lorelei Salas was the Supervision Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until February 2025. In that role, she led the largest team at the agency conducting examinations of banks and other financial institutions. From 2016 to 2021, Salas was the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, the oldest municipal agency in the country enforcing consumer and worker protection laws. In 2010, Salas was nominated by President Obama to lead the Wage and Hour division of the United States Department of Labor. From 2007 to 2016, Salas held several senior roles in New York state government and in non-profit legal services organizations.
- Julia Barnard, former student loan ombudsman, CFPB. Julia Barnard was the Student Loan Ombudsman and an advisor to Director Chopra at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. During her time at the CFPB, she was Director Chopra’s principal policy advisor on student loan strategy and acted as the CFPB’s primary liaison to the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Federal Student Aid, among other federal agency partners. She also led the policy development process related to federal and private education loans, which included reports related to tuition payment plans, K-12 payment platforms, college banking, and more. Additionally, she helped guide the CFPB’s strategy related to federal student loan servicers, private student lenders, and colleges. Before her time at the CFPB, Barnard was a student loan team lead at the Center for Responsible Lending and a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Halperin, Salas, and Barnard join the following former top CFPB officials in calling for the agency to be allowed to resume protecting consumers:
- Seth Frotman, former general counsel at the CFPB; co-founder, SBPC. As the CFPB’s top lawyer, Frotman led a successful effort to defend the constitutionality of the agency at the Supreme Court, resulting in a resounding 7-2 decision in favor of the CFPB. Frotman also worked to guide the CFPB’s strong pro-consumer agenda. Before returning to the CFPB in 2021, Frotman co-founded the Student Borrower Protection Center, with current SBPC executive director Mike Pierce. Previously, he spent nearly seven years at the CFPB in a series of roles: as Assistant Director and Student Loan Ombudsman, leading the agency’s work on student loan origination, servicing, debt collection, and oversight of for-profit institutions of higher education; and as senior advisor to Holly Petraeus, Assistant Director for Servicemember Affairs at the CFPB, where he helped lead the Bureau’s work to protect servicemembers, veterans, and military families.
- Julie Margetta Morgan, former associate director (Research, Monitoring, and Markets) at the CFPB. At the CFPB, Morgan oversaw the agency’s market monitoring, rulemaking, and research agenda. Prior to that role, she was the Assistant Director of the office of Policy Planning and Strategy, where she led the agency’s policy development and served as a senior advisor to then-Director Chopra. Under Morgan’s leadership, the agency furthered its agenda on curbing medical debt, reducing costly junk fees, and promoting a fair and competitive financial marketplace.
- Erie Meyer, former chief technologist at the CFPB. At the CFPB, Meyer led a team of expert technologists, all of whom were recently dismissed by new CFPB leadership. She recently filed an affidavit in federal court concerning the CFPB’s records, data management practices, and the threat that mass data deletion would pose to the consumer protection work of the CFPB. Meyer served on the implementation team that launched the CFPB, and became a founding team member of the Bureau’s Office of Technology and Innovation. Before rejoining the CFPB in 2021, Meyer served as Senior Advisor to Chair Khan for Policy Planning and Chief Technologist for the Federal Trade Commission, and as then-Commissioner Chopra’s Technology Advisor. Before serving at the FTC, she launched the U.S. Digital Service in the White House.
- Mike Pierce, former CFPB deputy assistant director (Office for Students and Young Consumers); SBPC co-founder and executive director. Pierce is an attorney, advocate, and former senior regulator who co-founded SBPC after more than a decade fighting for student loan borrowers’ rights on Capitol Hill and at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Before he left government service to start the SBPC, for seven years, Pierce was the CFPB’s lead subject-matter expert on higher education and consumer protection. He advised all aspects of the Bureau’s work related to student lending, servicing, debt collection, and oversight of for-profit colleges. From 2015 to 2017, Pierce also served as a Deputy Assistant Director of the Bureau, leading the day-to-day operations of the Bureau’s Office for Students and Young Consumers.
Background
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is the nation’s top watchdog protecting Americans against predatory lenders and corporate fraudsters. Earlier this month, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took over the CFPB. According to news reports, Musk’s team has worked to access sensitive data and confidential supervisory information that the CFPB gathers from companies in order to keep consumers safe.
Created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Congress gave the explicit directives to establish offices and programming dedicated to protecting vulnerable consumers, issue regulations to govern particular industries, and ensure transparent access to information about consumer financial products. Since opening its doors, the CFPB has directly obtained over $21 billion in relief for more than 205 million people from companies that illegally cheated consumers. This includes more than $5 billion in relief for Americans with student debt, and uncovering evidence that led to the U.S. Department of Education cancelling $188.8 billion of student debt for 5.3 million borrowers. The CFPB has been hard at work over the last decade and is broadly popular among both Democratic and Republican voters, and the agency has received support across many different sectors.
Further Reading
Consumer Federation of America and SBPC memo detailing 38 enforcement actions abandoned by CFPB Leadership: Trump and Vought Desert Consumers and Working Families Amid Violations by Predatory Financial Companies
SBPC and Consumer Federation of America memo identifying 87 congressionally imposed mandates Director Vought is refusing to perform: Advocates Applaud Lawsuits Challenging Trump and Vought’s Corrupt and Unlawful Attempt to “Delete” Consumer Watchdog Agency, CFPB
SBPC and Student Loan Ombudsman statement on her illegal firing: Trump, Vought, and Musk Team Up to Abandon Students and Borrowers, Illegally Fire Top Student Loan Industry Watchdog
SBPC memo on Twitter/X payments: Twitter/X Payments: Public Corruption Poses Risks for Consumers and Competition
SBPC blog on Musk and DOGE illegal attempt to “delete” CFPB: Elon and DOGE Are Attempting To Illegally “Delete” the CFPB, Here Is Why This Matters To Student Loan Borrower
SBPC press release on CFPB Director Chopra’s firing: CFPB Director Chopra’s Firing Tops Oligarchs’ Wishlist, Foreshadows Swing in Consumer Agency Priorities to Benefit Big Banks and Billionaires
###
About Student Borrower Protection Center
Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) is a nonprofit organization focused on eliminating the burden of student debt for millions of Americans. We engage in advocacy, policymaking, and litigation strategy to rein in industry abuses, protect borrowers’ rights, and advance racial and economic justice.
Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow SBPC on Twitter @theSBPC.