The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) announced its participation in the Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud (Task Force). Created by an executive order, the Task Force is a Department of Justice (DOJ)-led effort to "provide guidance for the investigation and prosecution of cases involving fraud on the government, the financial markets, and consumers … [and] enhance cooperation among agencies in the investigation and prosecution of fraud and other financial crimes."
In the Bureau's announcement, Acting Director Mick Mulvaney highlighted the agency's efforts to prevent elder financial exploitation, but the Task Force is intended to address that and other categories of frauds and scams perpetrated on the public, financial markets, or the government. The Task Force will investigate and provide guidance on fraud targeting service members and veterans, cyber-fraud, procurement and grant fraud, securities and commodities fraud, digital currency fraud, healthcare fraud, and tax fraud, among others.
The chair of the Task Force, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, said the Task Force will "invite participation from our law enforcement partners at many departments and agencies." Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein was joined in the announcement by Acting Director Mulvaney, Chairman Jay Clayton of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Chairman Joe Simons of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In addition to the DOJ, Bureau, SEC, and FTC, the Task Force agency invitees include the Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Postal Inspection Service.