Judicial Watch
6/27/2013
Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained records from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) revealing that the agency has spent millions of dollars for the warrantless collection and analysis of Americans’ financial transactions. The documents also reveal that CFPB contractors may be required to share the information with “additional government entities.”
The records were obtained pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed on April 24, 2013, following the April 23 Senate Banking Committee testimony of CFPB Director Richard Cordray. The documents uncovered by Judicial Watch include:
- Overlapping contracts with multiple credit reporting agencies and accounting firms to gather, store, and share credit card data as shown in the task list of a contract with Argus Information & Advisory Services LLC worth $2.9 million
- Deloitte Consulting: solicitation issue date 11/30/2011, award effective date 05/29/2012;
- Deloitte Consulting: solicitation issue date 11/30/2011, award effective date 05/29/2012;
- Argus: solicitation issue date 02/14/2012, award effective date 03/15/2012;
- Experian: solicitation issue date 07/03/2012, award effective date 09/24/2012
- An “indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity” contract with Experian worth up to $8,426,650 to track daily consumer habits of select individuals without their awareness or consent
- $4,951,333 for software and instruction paid to Deloitte Consulting LLP
- A provision stipulating that “The contractor recognizes that, in performing this requirement, the Contractor may obtain access to non-public, confidential information, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), or proprietary information.”
- A stipulation that “The Contractor may be required to share credit card data collected from the Banks with additional government entities as directed by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).”…
The article continues at Judicial Watch.
H/T Michael Graham
Update 2: Watch out, America! Senator Sheldon Whitehouse wrote on Facebook:
I’m so glad to have U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren with me in the fight to protect American families from sky-high interest rates. I hope you’ll join us in this fight: http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/Marquette
This alliance can only mean bad news for us all…
