To Office of Government Ethics: No Musk at CFPB
By Bartlett Naylor
February 20, 2025
Doug Collins, Acting Director
Office of the Director
U.S. Office of Government Ethics
250 E Street SW, Suite 750
Washington, DC 20024
Dear Director,
I write on behalf of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization with members in all fifty states, which works to support the enactment and enforcement of laws protecting consumers, workers, and the general public. We ask you to direct Special Government Employee Elon Musk and his agents to desist from any activity, in their role on behalf of the government or the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), related to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In brief, Musk intends to create a payment service associated with his social media firm Twitter/X. Because the CFPB has authority to regulate such a project, any work by Musk and his agents at the CFPB would create a conflict of interest.
As provided in 18 USC 208, any “employee of the executive branch . . . including a special government employee,” who “participates personally and substantially ,. . . through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, . . . in which, to his knowledge, he . . . . has a financial interest shall be subject to penalties.“ Further, “Whoever willfully engages in the conduct constituting the offense shall be imprisoned for not more than five years.”
The White House designated Elon Musk as a special government employee, according to news reports, and/or “an employee in the White House office,” according to legal filings. He is therefore subject to 18 USC 208.
His efforts to render “advice” regarding the CFPB are abundant and transparent. For example, he tweeted “Delete CFPB” and “CFPB RIP.”
Meanwhile, Musk’s “financial interest” in the activities of the CFPB are similarly abundant. Musk and his associates are slaloming through numerous government agencies where he also appears to have conflicts of interest. For the reasons described below, his actions in connection with the CFPB deserve special scrutiny.
His business decisions following his acquisition of Twitter have proven shaky, with some advertisers leaving the platform over concern with some of his public pronouncements. To right this ship, Musk has promised to turn Twitter—which he renamed X—into an “everything” product that includes a PayPal-like payment service (as well as a dating service, video platform, telephone service and more). Musk recently signed an agreement with Visa for use of Visa’s digital payment network to allow users on X to use their debit cards to make payments to their peers.
The concern that Musk’s payment system of other financial services enterprises that he might engage in will act unfairly or engage in misconduct is real, as evidenced by the fact at least nine agencies are investigating possible misconduct at three of his businesses.
Regulation of payment products such as the one envisioned by Musk falls within the CFPB’s purview. In fact, the CFPB has been “seeking public input on strengthening privacy protections and preventing harmful surveillance in digital payments, particularly those offered through large technology platforms.” Accordingly, the work at CFPB of Musk and people under him presents a direct conflict of interest.
Separately, Musk’s access to data and other information held by CFPB raises the concern that he may be privy to confidential information about potential rivals, including conventional banks and technology companies. As noted by the New York Times, the CFPB “has opened several investigations of e-payments systems. The data collected in its investigations includes correspondence between executives, secret business plans and market analysis.”
The Office of Government Ethics “works to prevent financial conflicts of interest to help ensure government decisions are made free from personal financial bias,” according to its website. This work includes “monitoring senior leaders’ compliance with ethics commitment” and “ensuring agencies comply with ethics program requirements.” Therefore, we ask the Office of Government Ethics to ensure compliance with conflicts law by directing Musk and his DOGE associates to cease any involvement now and in the future at the CFPB.
For questions, please contact me at bnaylor@citizen.org.
Sincerely,
Bartlett Naylor
Public Citizen