.svg)
Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about conflicts of interest arising from tech billionaire and government budget tsar Elon Musk’s push for the shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
In a letter to CFPB acting director Russell Vought and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam B. Schiff accuse Musk of “neutralizing the pro-consumer agency that will supervise X’s digital wallet … potentially gaining access to confidential corporate data that could provide X with an unfair advantage”.
“Americans deserve a CFPB that will continue to stand up against corporate greed — not an agency shut down by officials looking out for themselves,” the senators say in a press release.
The lawmakers criticise Musk as being involved — in his capacity as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — in efforts to undermine the CFPB’s authority and regulatory power, especially in the context of the growing digital payments industry, which his company is directly involved in.
Musk's ownership of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and its move to introduce digital payments is placing him in a position, the senators suggest, where his actions at DOGE may directly benefit his financial interests.
X’s shift into payments has been backed by a recently announced partnership with Visa.
The role of the CFPB
In recent years, the CFPB has increasingly focused on regulating digital wallets and payment systems.
This has included a rule to supervise the largest nonbank companies offering digital funds transfer and payment wallet apps, which was finalised in November last year.
The rule will help the CFPB to ensure that big tech companies follow federal law in a similar way to their counterparts in the retail financial services space.
In their letter, the senators suggest that the agency’s ability to enforce these protections for consumers is now in jeopardy.
Warren, a key figure in the CFPB's founding, and Schiff warn that “Musk’s operatives” have accessed sensitive CFPB data and systems, which they say has given the tech mogul an unfair advantage over competitors in the digital payments space.
“When the CFPB, like any federal agency, takes an enforcement action against a private company, the company provides sensitive information to the agency,” the letter says.
“Additionally, when the CFPB issued its final large participant rule on digital consumer payment applications, as part of the rulemaking process, the CFPB collected comments and data from the industry.”
“Through his efforts at DOGE to target the CFPB, Mr. Musk is actively undermining an agency directly responsible for supervising — and if necessary, disciplining — his company’s new P2P system,” wrote the senators.
According to the letter, Musk’s “incursion into the CFPB” means that he and DOGE employees “now have access to a trove of proprietary corporate information that he would not have been able to obtain otherwise”.
Questions to the regulators
Over 12 questions, the senators seek a comprehensive list of all documents, data, systems and materials accessed by DOGE or DOGE-affiliated officials at the CFPB since February 6, 2025, including those personally accessed by Musk.
The letter also inquires about any enforcement or proprietary information related to X, Visa, Tesla or their competitors that has been shared with DOGE officials, and requests copies of all written communications between DOGE-affiliated officials and CFPB officials during this period.
Further, the request asks for details on the CFPB’s measures to ensure compliance with federal conflict of interest rules for DOGE officials, including whether the South African-born billionaire has recused himself from any matters related to X, Tesla or DOGE’s work.
It seeks a list of recusals and any associated communications, as well as any ethics waivers issued to Musk or other DOGE officials under federal ethics laws.
The inquiry also requests information on safeguards to prevent DOGE officials from accessing sensitive information that could present conflicts of interest, and seeks records of communications between the CFPB, the Treasury Department and the Office of Government Ethics regarding Musk and other DOGE officials' compliance with federal ethics laws.
The senators raised similar concerns about Musk’s conflicts of interest with Tesla, the electric motor company that he is owner of.
“The CFPB plays a critical role in supervising the auto lending industry and protecting consumers from corporate malfeasance and scams,” the senators suggest.
“Therefore, actions by Mr. Musk and DOGE at the CFPB also have the potential to directly benefit Tesla — and by extension, Mr. Musk.”
