The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of Treasury (“FinCEN”) issued new interpretive guidance last week relating to the application of anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws under the Banking Secrecy Act (“BSA”) to financial institutions engaged in the business of convertible virtual currencies (“CVCs”), including bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.
The stated purpose of the
A fight over a receipt for chocolate could end up in the Supreme Court. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a $6.3 million settlement between Godiva Chocolatier, Inc. and a class of plaintiffs who alleged that Godiva violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act by printing too many digits of the plaintiffs’ credit cards on their
On March 29, in Marshall v. Verde Energy USA, Inc., Judge John Vazquez of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed a plaintiff’s putative class action lawsuit against Verde Energy, finding, in part, that the plaintiff failed to state a claim under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”). Marshall
On April 10, Priority Payout Corporation, a payment processing company and the successor of InterBill Ltd., agreed to settle charges with the Federal Trade Commission regarding violations of a 2009 Final Judgment and Order for Permanent Injunction and Other Equitable Relief (the “2009 Order”). The 2019 settlement with the FTC bans
On March 18, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed a bill that prohibits discrimination against cash-paying retail customers. The new law bans retailers who sell goods or services from requiring buyers to use a credit card or prohibiting the use of cash as payment for the goods or services. The new law takes effect immediately.
Requiring an employee or consumer to submit any dispute to binding arbitration as a condition of employment or purchase of a product or service is commonly referred to as “forced arbitration.” Many times, the employee or consumer is required to waive their right to sue or to participate in a class action lawsuit. Critics argue
On February 25, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reauthorized their Memorandum of Understanding, or “MOU.”
The MOU, which governs the FTC’s and CFPB’s joint operations, focuses on five key areas of cooperation:
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a consumer’s appeal from the Third Circuit’s ruling that his claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act were time-barred despite being brought within one year of discovering the violation. The circuits have been split on whether the one-year statute of limitations under the FDCPA begins to run when
A group of 21 states and the District of Columbia submitted a comment letter opposing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s effort to revise and boost its Policy on No-Action Letters (“NAL Policy”) and the creation of a CFPB Product Sandbox. The NAL Policy and Product Sandbox will allow companies
The House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee convened for a hearing last week entitled “Challenges and Solutions: Access to Banking Services for Cannabis-Related Businesses.” At the hearing, the Committee focused on a “discussion draft” of the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019 (the “SAFE Banking Act”),
