FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Max Moran, [email protected]
Big Business Sues For Their Right To Be Bigots
In response to several banking industry trade groups suing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over looking for discriminatory behavior when examining financial firms, Revolving Door Project Personnel Team Research Director Max Moran issued the following statement:
“This lawsuit is simply about big business’ personal fear of and resentment toward Rohit Chopra. Three Chamber of Commerce executives and four of its board members come from firms whose wrongdoing, including discrimination, Chopra has exposed.”
“But if anyone needed more proof that the business lobby’s supposed commitment to social justice is a public relations lie, here’s your evidence. The Chamber of Commerce thinks we’re all dumb enough to celebrate C-Suiters as antiracists and feminists while they literally go to court to protect their right to discriminate.”
“Chopra’s integration of discriminatory practices into UDAAP enforcement is long overdue — I mean, in what universe is discrimination not an ‘unfair, deceptive, and/or abusive act or practice’?”
“The CFPB’s actions last year against Trustmark Bank’s redlining were a long overdue step to end one of the most harmful forms of racial discrimination in American history and present society. Any institutions trying to prevent further action like that are actively on the side of white supremacy. It should surprise no one familiar with the history of American racial capitalism that the titans of industry are on that side.”
The Revolving Door Project published a report on the Chamber of Commerce’s concerted efforts against Rohit Chopra on September 13th. The report shows that the Chamber’s senior leadership includes executives and alumni of many firms whose lawbreaking and malfeasance Chopra has explored or exposed.
The Chamber executives who have histories with Chopra are:
- Chamber CEO Suzanne Clark. She’s been on the board of TransUnion since 2017. In April, Chopra sued TransUnion, since it has broken its consent order with the CFPB twice since the agency sued it in 2017 for deceptive marketing.
- Stephanie Ferguson and John Drake, who are both former Amazon lobbyists. Chopra has ordered Amazon and other Big Tech firms to turn over information about how they process consumer payments, and is an outspoken supporter of breaking up Big Tech.
The Chamber Board members who have histories with Chopra are:
- InfoSys CEO Ravi Kumar. He sits on TransUnion’s board.
- U.S. Bank Executive Vice President Elliott Jaffee. Chopra fined U.S. Bank $37.5 million this summer for opening fake accounts and credit lines.
- Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan. As a Federal Trade Commissioner, Chopra called for a far stronger response to Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, and at the CFPB, he has probed the firm’s involvement in online payment systems.
- Amway Chairman Steve Van Andel. At the FTC, Chopra pushed to include Amway and other multi-level marketing schemes in anti-scam rules.
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PHOTO CREDIT: “World Economic Forum Annual Meeting” by World Economic Forum is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.