team, Author at Americans for Financial Reform

In The News: It’s Time for Congress to Do Something About the Economic Mess that Private Equity Giants Have Created (Business Insider)

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz: “[A] recent study by groups including Americans for Financial Reform found that private-equity bankruptcies in the retail industry alone cost 600,000 jobs. One of those laid off, Giovanna De La Rosa, told of her experiences in this publication. The best outcome would be fewer bankruptcies, but when they happen, the welfare of workers needs to be at the top of the list, not at the bottom.”

Event: Convening on Fund Regulation

AFR held a day-long convening of experts to discuss emerging issues in the SEC regulation of registered investment companies (mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds that are registered under the 1940 Act).

Letters to Regulators: AFR Ed Fund urges the NCUA to develop a consumer compliance exam process

Letter to the NCUA urging them to prioritize consumer compliance

In The News: Want To Make Payday Loans In States Where It’s Outlawed? Rent A Bank! (Talking Points Memo)

FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams “is doing the bidding of loan sharks who have a decades-long history of trying to get around state consumer protection rules,” Americans for Financial Reform spokesperson Carter Dougherty observed. “And now a federal regulator is helping them do it.”

News Release: AFR Cheers Introduction of Legislation Eliminating Opportunity Zone Tax Giveaway

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) introduced groundbreaking and essential legislation to repeal the deeply flawed Opportunity Zone tax break passed as part of the 2017 tax cut legislation. In addition to the basic problems with this tax break for the wealthy, multiple media exposés have already found that the rules have been bent to include parcels that benefitted high-rolling real estate investors, including those with ties to the Trump administration.

Letters to Regulators: AFR Ed Fund sent a letter opposing proposal to exempt foreign derivative clearing organizations from registration with the CFTC.

View or download a PDF version of the full letter.

Letters to Regulators: Joint letter to the SEC urging Chairman Clayton to withdraw anti-investor guidance that would undermine independent audits of public companies.

View or download a PDF version of the letter. Consumer Federation of America AFL-CIO Better Markets Center for American Progress Americans for Financial Reform November 21, 2018 Dear Chairman Clayton: We are writing to express our grave concerns regarding PCAOB staff guidance on Rule 3526(b),

In The News: Ocasio-Cortez Explains Everything Wrong with Private Equity in Less Than a Minute (GQ)

“I wasn’t sent here to safeguard and protect profit,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a video from the hearing circulated by Americans for Financial Reform, “I was sent here to safeguard and protect people.”

In The News: Once Mulvaney’s chief of staff, payday lobbyist enjoys frequent access to his old boss (The Washington Post)

“This lobbyist is about the purest walking-and-talking evidence you could imagine of why money matters in Washington,” Linda Jun, senior policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform

Letter to Congress: Broad Coalition Supports the Stop Wall Street Looting Act

Today, private equity and hedge fund managers take advantage of gaps in regulations to make billions of dollars by looting real-world businesses and engaging in abusive practices without any accountability. They also pay taxes at a lower rate than teachers and firefighters. The undersigned organizations support the Stop Wall Street Looting Act (S.2155 / HR 3848 ). This legislation would eliminate tax, securities and bankruptcy law carve-outs that allow these Wall Street titans to make billions at the expense of workers, communities and pensions.