House Financial Services Committee Issues Report Accusing Bureau of Contempt Charges Relating to Investigation into Arbitration Rulemaking

Federal Issues CFPB Arbitration House Financial Services Committee

On August 4, the Majority Committee Staff of the House Financial Services Committee (Committee) released a report accusing CFPB Director Richard Cordray of failing to comply with an April 4, 2017 Congressional subpoena concerning the Committee’s on-going investigation into the Bureau’s arbitration rulemaking, and presenting a case for instituting contempt of Congress proceedings. According to the report, the Committee first requested documents relating to the CFPB’s pre-dispute arbitration rulemaking on April 20, 2016 but asserts it received a production that was “far from complete.” Subsequent document requests and “rolling” productions were also allegedly “incomplete.” In April 2017, the Committee issued a congressional subpoena in order to compel the CFPB to produce the relevant records, but the report claims that while Cordray was legally obligated to answer, he failed to adequately respond. Consequently, the Committee accused Cordray of defaulting on the subpoena and concluded that the CFPB’s argument regarding the burdensome nature of the request does not excuse the Bureau from producing records or “searching for and identifying sources of records in an effort to quantify the putative burden.” As a result, the Majority Committee Staff believes there is ample basis to proceed against Cordray for contempt of Congress.