How a Tombstone Emoji Killed America’s Consumer Watchdog

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is tasked with enforcing consumer finance laws and holding some of the country’s most powerful banks, lenders and companies to account. But a new Bloomberg investigation found that over the past 15 months, much of that work has come to a halt. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporters Noah Buhayar and Coulter Jones join host Sarah Holder to talk about how acting director Russell Vought gutted the CFPB, and how the agency has refused to enforce settlements and pursue lawsuits — in some cases letting big businesses pocket millions they’d already agreed to pay consumers. Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by David Fox; Reported by Noah Buhayar, Coulter Jones, Tedd Mann; Edited by Aaron Edwards, Nicole Beemsterboer. Fact-checking by Laura Newcombe; Engineering by Emma Munger. Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.