Ex-CFPB Deputy Director English Joins N.Y. Banking Regulator

Jan 16, 2020

While the rest of the state remains on pause due to contain the spread of COVID-19, New York’s real estate industry has been given the green light to return to limited activity

Leandra English, the former Deputy Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) who engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to secure the position of Acting Director, has been named as a special policy advisor for the New York Department of Financial Services.

English was the Chief of Staff to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, who announced her as his temporary replacement when he resigned in November 2017 to pursue an unsuccessful campaign to become governor of Ohio. However, President Trump named Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as the Acting Director, citing the Vacancies Act of 1988 which empowers the president to nominate any Senate-confirmed administration official as the Acting Director of a department or agency where the leadership role is vacant.

English insisted that the Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFPB Director the right to choose an Acting Director, but two courts already ruled against her. Despite her legal setbacks, she continued to use that title in her interoffice communications at the CFPB and ignored attempts by Mulvaney to communicate with her via e-mail. Several Democratic legislators—most notably, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—refused to acknowledge Mulvaney’s leadership role and insisted on including

“Acting Director Leandra English” in their correspondence to the agency. At one point, Mulvaney claimed that he had no clue what English did at the CFPB, despite her carrying a $212,000 annual salary.

English pursued a third court ruling, but resigned in July 2018 while the case was still pending.

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Phil Hall

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Jan 16, 2020

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