Another One Bites The Dust: BCFP Loses CID Appeal

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (the "Bureau") has struck out again in trying to enforce a Civil Investigative Demand ("CID") that contains broad and generic language about the nature of the agency's investigation. For the second time, a US Court of Appeals has ruled that a CID issued by the Bureau was invalid because the agency failed to meet the statutory requirement that the CID identify the conduct constituting the alleged violation under investigation and the provision of law applicable to such violation, as required by 12 U.S.C. § 5562(c)(2). As we previously discussed, last year the DC Circuit ruled that a CID that the Bureau issued to a college accrediting agency failed to meet the statutory threshold when it merely identified "unlawful acts and practices in connection with accrediting for profit colleges" as the conduct under investigation. CFPB v. ACICS, 854 F.3d 683 (D.C. Cir. 2017).