Warren Requests Communications Between CFPB and Trump’s CFPB Nominee, Capital One Executive Brian Johnson, Following CFPB’s Dropped Lawsuit Against Capital One
“Upon learning of Mr. Johnson’s nomination to serve as CFPB Director, I was concerned—given his history at the agency—that Mr. Johnson could have played a role in internal and external discussions within Capital One regarding the dropped CFPB lawsuit.”
Washington, D.C. – Ahead of Brian Johnson’s nomination hearing to be Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Russell Vought, Acting Director of the CFPB, requesting that he provide all communications between CFPB employees and Johnnson, a current executive at Capital One.
“Mr. Johnson’s tenure at Capital One has overlapped with significant CFPB scrutiny of the bank’s sales tactics. The CFPB sued Capital One in January 2025. According to the lawsuit, Capital One deceived millions of customers with a ‘360 Savings’ account. The bank allegedly promised that those customers would receive one of the country’s ‘best’ and ‘highest’ interest rates – and created the impression that ‘360 Savings' would be the bank’s only ‘high interest’ savings product of its kind,” wrote the Ranking Member.
“Meanwhile, according to the complaint, Capital One created a separate new ‘360 Performance Savings’ product with an interest rate about 14 times higher – but never told 360 Savings accountholders about the new type of account…The CFPB’s lawsuit sought to provide redress to consumers who lost out on billions of dollars in potential savings interest due to Capital One’s deceptive practices. But in February 2025, after President Trump returned to the White House, the CFPB dropped its lawsuit,” continued the Ranking Member.
“Upon learning of Mr. Johnson’s nomination to serve as CFPB Director, I was concerned—given his history at the agency—that Mr. Johnson could have played a role in internal and external discussions within Capital One regarding the dropped CFPB lawsuit. As a result, I asked Capital One on June 29, 2026, to provide ‘records of all correspondence relevant to the CFPB’s lawsuit against Capital One between November 2024 and November 2025,’ including correspondence between Mr. Johnson and CFPB officials,” wrote the Ranking Member.
In response to Ranking Member Warren’s June letter to Capital One, the company responded: “‘(W)e are not aware of any outreach by Mr. Johnson to the CFPB on Capital One’s behalf related to the CFPB’s lawsuit regarding Capital One’s 360 Savings product.’”
“Though Capital One’s response indicates that Mr. Johnson did not reach out to the CFPB on Capital One’s behalf regarding the CFPB’s lawsuit, it does not clarify one way or the other whether the CFPB reached out to Mr. Johnson–on the lawsuit, or any other topic. I am therefore writing to request information from the CFPB regarding its communications with Mr. Johnson while he served as an executive at Capital One,” concluded Ranking Member Warren.
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