DOJ Tort Litigator Said to Be Favorite to Lead CFPB Enforcement

Thomas G. Ward, a Trump administration Justice Department appointee, is a lead candidate to be the CFPB’s new enforcement director, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Ward has led the Justice Department’s torts branch since July 2017 as deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Division, which is a political appointment.

Ward said he has not received an offer of employment for the assistant director of enforcement role, and said he was still working at the Justice Department, when contacted by Bloomberg Law Dec. 5. He declined to comment further.

Spokespeople for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau did not respond to a request for comment.

Ward was previously a litigation partner for more than 18 years at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington. Ward also worked at Sullivan & Cromwell as an associate before clerking for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the mid-1990s.

Ward’s potential selection would conclude a months-long search for a permanent enforcement director. The bureau’s previous enforcement chief, Kristen Donoghue, resigned in May. Donoghue now holds a senior legal position at Capital One Financial Corp.

Ward has little experience doing government enforcement work or working for a financial regulator. Neither is a requirement for the job. One of the bureau’s previous enforcement directors, Anthony Alexis, had earlier served as a litigator in the DOJ’s Civil Fraud Division and was an assistant U.S. attorney.

The current acting enforcement chief, Principal Deputy Enforcement Director Cara Petersen, joined the CFPB from the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Financial Practices.

Petersen is also seeking the permanent enforcement position, according to multiple current and former CFPB staff members. She is considered a staff favorite for the role, according to multiple former CFPB employees.

Petersen declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg Law Dec. 4.

Bryan Schneider, associate director for the Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending Division, oversees the enforcement staff.

Schneider was among the last round of senior bureau staff hired by CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger in September. Schneider previously served as head of Illinois’ financial regulatory agency.