Category Archives: Statements and Press Releases

News Release: Supreme Court Should Not Roll Back Investor Rights and Unleash Corporate Misconduct

WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 24, 2021 – New concerns are being expressed today by a wide-ranging group of organizations and experts who are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the rights and protection of investors against corporate misconduct. In a sign-on statement from 38 groups and individuals the authors warn the pending case “has potentially far-reaching and devastating implications” for investors and market integrity

Statement: AFR Decries Systemic Racism and Misogyny After Shooting Deaths in Georgia

We are deeply saddened by the deaths of the eight shooting victims in Georgia, six of them Asian women, and stand in solidarity with their loved ones and the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in mourning. The people murdered include Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun Gonzalez, Paul Andre Michels, and Xiaojie Tan, along with four victims who have not yet been identified.

These terrible murders come in the midst of heightened attacks on Asian Americans across the country, and starkly underline that anti-AAPI racism is pervasive and ongoing, and must be reckoned with in multiple ways. We decry the systemic racism and the misogyny that drove this racist violence, and all racist and misogynist violence, and pledge to be a part of seeking change. 

News Release: Experts: U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Goldman Sachs Case Could Have “Devastating Consequences” for Investors, Market Confidence

Will the U.S. Supreme Court allow investors defrauded by Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis to have their day in court?  Or, will the Court rule in favor of Goldman Sachs and, in so doing, create a roadmap that publicly traded companies can use to make false and misleading statements that will harm Main Street investors and dramatically undermine market confidence by making it impossible for any investor to rely on the public statements of companies?

Clean Energy Climate

News Release: Labor Department Will Not Enforce Rules that Impede ESG Investing

In a significant reversal, the Department of Labor (DOL) today announced they will not enforce the anti-sustainable investing rules that were hastily published in the final days of the Trump administration. The two rules, which went into effect in January 2021, would have made it much harder for retirement plans to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks into their investment practices.

a dollar bill on top of a pile of money with scrabble pieces spelling out "tax" on top

News Release: Pass the Ultra-Millionaire Tax So Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share

Wall Street billionaires have escaped paying their fair share of taxes for decades, thanks to laws they themselves have had an outsize influence in shaping. This bill requiring the ultrarich to pay some tax on their wealth, which was too often accumulated through predatory business models that extracted wealth from workers and communities, is an important step forward for economic justice.

the us capitol

News Release: Voting Record Highlights House Efforts to Protect Consumers and Hold Wall Street Accountable During the 116th Congress

Today, Americans for Financial Reform released a record of votes during the 116th Congress regarding consumer protections and Wall Street accountability. During the 116th Congress, the Democratic-led House of Representatives advanced a number of measures to strengthen consumer protections and to put in place enforcement tools to hold bad actors in the financial industry accountable for abusive, discriminatory, and fraudulent practices.