CFPB, Baltimore Probed Over Vought’s Threatened Funding Freeze

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the city of Baltimore butted heads and faced skeptical questions from a federal judge in Maryland over whether statements from acting Director Russell Vought threatening to zero out the agency’s funding amounted to an unlawful and final agency action.

The CFPB hasn’t denied Vought’s decision to freeze the agency’s funding, counsel for Baltimore and a Maryland-based economic justice organization said at a hearing Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Maryland. But Judge Matthew J. Maddox had sharp questions for both sides about the acting chief’s moves and the standard for ...