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Stephen leads the firm’s Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement (RISE) Practice Group. He focuses his practice on enforcement actions, investigations, and litigation. Stephen primarily represents clients engaging with, or being investigated by, state attorneys general and other state or local governmental enforcement bodies, including the CFPB and FTC, as well as clients involved with litigation, with a particular focus on heavily regulated industries. He also has experience advising clients on data and privacy issues, including handling complex investigations into data incidents by state attorneys general other state and federal regulators. Additionally, Stephen provides strategic counsel to Troutman Pepper’s Strategies clients who need assistance with public policy, advocacy, and government relations strategies.

On January 10, the FTC issued a report summarizing the themes and key takeaways from a recent workshop it jointly hosted with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on privacy and security issues related to connected and autonomous cars.

The report – styled a “Staff Perspective” – noted several important themes that emerged from

On January 9, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced a settlement with a debt collector that will wipe out $8.8 million in consumer debt.

“It is plain and simple, any debt collector that employs abusive, deceptive and illegal tactics in Georgia will be held accountable,” Carr said in announcing the settlement.

Carr alleged that the

Earlier this month, the New York State Department of Financial Services fined The Western Union Company $60 million for allegedly violating the New York Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws.

According to DFS, Western Union was aware of improper conduct involving its “NY-China Corridor” agents – small businesses that offered services for Western Union

On December 27, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released “The Consumer Credit Card Market,” its report on the state of the industry. Mandated to be released every two years by the Credit Card Accountability and Disclosure Act, the report was last released in 2015. The 2017 report focused on tracking credit card market trends and

In its Office of Claims and Refunds Annual Report, the Federal Trade Commission reports that its law enforcement efforts between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, returned $6.4 billion in refunds to consumers, including $391 million sent directly by the FTC to 6.28 million consumers.  This is the first such report on money returned

On December 22, the Federal Trade Commission issued its biennial report to Congress on the use of the National Do Not Call Registry, which is the database maintained by the federal government listing the telephone numbers of individuals who have requested that telemarketers not call them.

According to the report, 3.8 million phone numbers were

On December 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the imposition of joint and several liability on a payment processor that had provided “substantial assistance” to another entity that violated a federal ban on improper telemarketing practices. The decision leaves the payment processor responsible for paying the $1.7 million judgment with

On December 12, a federal judge dismissed a challenge to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s proposal to issue special purpose national bank charters to financial technology firms, finding that the plaintiff – the New York State Department of Financial Services – lacks standing and that the claims asserted are not ripe because

On December 8, the United States Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the tolling rule adopted in American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah i.e., that the filing of a class action tolls the limitations period for a purported class member’s individual claims – permits a previously absent class member to bring a

With President Trump’s pick, Mick Mulvaney, remaining as the Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB has filed a motion asking the United States District Court for the District of Kansas to extend briefing deadlines on a motion to dismiss filed in CFPB v. Golden Valley Lending, Inc., et al., No.