BREAKING: Campaign Legal Center has filed a complaint against a DOGE aide at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who appears to have violated significant conflict of interest rules meant to prevent public officials from enriching themselves through their jobs. Ethics laws are designed to ensure conflicts of interest do not impact the work of public officials. The CFPB aims to prevent conflicts of interest by prohibiting its employees from holding stock in several companies the agency directly regulates, dubbed “prohibited holdings.” DOGE aide Gavin Kliger held up to $715k of these prohibited stock holdings. He was warned by ethics officials that he could be violating ethics laws and was advised not to participate in any agency actions that could bring him personal benefit. By overseeing the layoffs of over 1,400 CFPB employees — including the ethics lawyers who advised him — while holding stock the CFPB deemed to pose a conflicts of interest, it seems likely that Kliger violated federal ethics regulations. CLC is calling on ethics enforcers to launch an investigation and, if they determine that the law was broken, hold Kliger accountable. (fb)

GOOD NEWS: After pressure from CLC and our partners, the only independent office that investigates misconduct and corruption in Congress is back up and running. This is a win for ethics and accountability. (fb)