Current Events in July 2025

• $120 million in redress returned to companies that broke the law

• Hundreds of millions more in restitution stalled or at risk

• Watchdog groups accuse CFPB of abandoning enforcement and transparency

More than $360 million in compensation owed to Americans harmed by illegal financial practices is at risk due to actions taken by the Trump-appointed leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), according to a new investigation by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC).

The investigation reveals that over $120 million in redress has already been clawed back from victims and returned to the same corporations found to have broken the law. Additionally, hundreds of millions more remain in limbo or face cancellation as the CFPB under acting director Russell Vought has rolled back enforcement and reduced transparency.

“Corporate pardons” and dropped cases

The CFPB, once seen as a bulwark against financial abuse, has seen a dramatic shift under the Trump administration’s influence. The agency has dropped at least 22 pending enforcement cases this year, including several involving significant harm to military service members, student borrowers, and auto loan holders.

“In case after case, the Trump CFPB has taken the side of Wall Street over working families,” said Eric Halperin, senior fellow at CFA. “The agency’s job is to protect Americans—not to offer a laundry list of corporate pardons.”

Among the findings: in three separate enforcement cases, the CFPB withdrew from settlements that would have delivered more than $120 million in redress to affected consumers. In each of those cases, the companies were explicitly relieved of any obligation to pay restitution. In a fourth case, the financial penalty was dramatically reduced with little explanation.

Redress in limbo: CashApp, Navient, Honda

The fate of hundreds of millions more in consumer restitution remains uncertain. Investigators highlight at least three major enforcement actions where large payouts have either stalled or face derailment:

• CashApp (Block Inc.): As much as $120 million in consumer refunds are owed but remain unpaid.

• Navient: Over $100 million in redress for student loan borrowers appears stuck in administrative purgatory.

• American Honda Finance: More than $10 million in relief has yet to reach harmed auto loan customers.

All of these enforcement actions were finalized in 2024 but are now at risk due to the CFPB’s abrupt policy shifts under Vought’s leadership.

“When Americans got ripped off by big banks and other financial companies, they could count on the CFPB to take action—until now,” said Allison Preiss of the SBPC. “Today, Wall Street wrongdoers are being richly rewarded while regular Americans are left empty-handed.”

A Transparency Breakdown

The CFA-SBPC report also slams the CFPB for abandoning long-standing transparency practices. Since 2011, the agency has published quarterly reports detailing enforcement activity, penalties collected, and disbursement of funds to victims. Those reports have traditionally been posted within three months of each fiscal quarter.

But since January 5, 2025, the CFPB has failed to publish a single report, breaking with more than a decade of precedent. Watchdogs say this lack of transparency makes it harder for consumers and policymakers to track whether restitution is being delivered—or quietly abandoned.

“This isn’t just about policy differences,” said Halperin. “It’s about basic accountability and honoring the promises made to Americans who’ve already been harmed.”

• Blood levels of PFAS (“forever chemicals”) were linked to about a 31 % increased future risk of type 2 diabetes.
  

• The study compared 180 newly diagnosed diabetes cases with 180 matched non‑diabetic controls from Mount Sinai’s BioMe cohort.
  

• Metabolic disruptions in amino-acid and drug-processing pathways may offer clues to how PFAS interfere with blood sugar regulation.
  

Per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals,” have gotten a lot of attention recently for the plethora of health risks associated with them. 

Now, a new study from Mount Sinai suggests that PFAS exposure may quietly raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

“PFAS are synthetic chemicals that resist heat, oil, water, and stains, and are found in countless everyday consumer products,” researcher Vishal Midya, Ph.D., M.Stat., said in a news release. 

“Because they don’t break down easily, PFAS accumulate in the environment — and in human bodies. Our study is one of the first to examine how these chemicals may disrupt the body’s metabolism in ways that increase diabetes risk — particularly in diverse U.S. populations.” 

The study

The research team conducted the study using BioMe, a health‑record linked biobank that has enrolled over 70,000 people at Mount Sinai Hospital since 2007. 

They selected 180 individuals recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and matched them with 180 similar participants (same age, sex, ancestry) who did not have diabetes. 

Blood samples from all participants were tested for PFAS levels. The researchers then examined how increasing PFAS exposure related to subsequent diabetes risk, while also exploring metabolic signatures in pathways tied to amino‑acid biosynthesis and drug metabolism.

The results

The key finding: For each step up in PFAS exposure (e.g. from low to moderate, moderate to high), there was a 31 % higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later on. 

While the study can’t prove PFAS causes diabetes directly, it did find signs that PFAS may disrupt critical metabolic processes — specifically amino‑acid biosynthesis and drug metabolism — which are intimately involved in regulating blood sugar.

“This research leverages an exposomics framework to characterize environmental impacts and associated metabolic alterations contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes in vulnerable U.S. populations,” researcher Damaskini Valvi, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, said in the news release. 

“These findings can help us design more effective interventions for the early prevention of type 2 diabetes in the future, taking into account individuals’ exposures to environmental chemicals along with other well-known genetic, clinical, and lifestyle factors implicated in diabetes development. Mounting research suggests that PFAS are a risk factor for several chronic diseases, such as obesity, liver disease, and diabetes.” 

• The U.S. Department of Transportation has withdrawn a decades-old rulemaking to require speed limiters on heavy vehicles.

• The National Safety Council warns the move will lead to more fatalities on U.S. roads.

• In 2023 alone, speeding killed nearly 12,000 people — and over 5,000 large trucks were involved in fatal crashes.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has officially withdrawn its long-standing effort to require speed-limiting technology on large commercial vehicles, ending more than 20 years of regulatory work aimed at curbing speed-related traffic fatalities.

The decision, announced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), halts proposed rulemaking that would have mandated the use of speed limiters on multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, and school buses weighing more than 26,000 pounds. The aim of the rule was to reduce deadly crashes involving speeding heavy vehicles by leveraging existing technology to cap maximum speeds.

Lorraine Martin, president and CEO of the National Safety Council (NSC), strongly criticized the move. “USDOT’s research has proven speed-limiting devices save lives, ensuring truckers can perform their jobs and return home safely,” Martin said in a statement. “This is a disappointing rollback of a decades-long effort to reduce speed-related fatalities involving large commercial vehicles. The National Safety Council urges USDOT to reconsider its decision, which will cost lives.”

Fatal numbers on the rise

Speeding remains a persistent and deadly problem on U.S. roads, the NSC said. In 2023, it was a factor in 29% of all traffic deaths, claiming the lives of 11,775 people — an average of more than 32 fatalities every day. The stakes are even higher when excess speed is combined with the massive weight of heavy trucks. That year, 5,375 large trucks were involved in fatal crashes, reflecting an 8.4% decrease from 2022 but still a staggering 43% increase compared to a decade ago.

The withdrawal comes despite government studies showing that speed limiters work. A 2012 FMCSA study of fleet data found that trucks equipped with such devices had significantly lower crash rates. USDOT estimates that capping truck speeds at 65 mph could prevent nearly 5,000 injuries and save over 200 lives each year.

The National Safety Council, a 110-year-old nonprofit dedicated to eliminating preventable deaths and injuries, emphasized that the science is clear and the technology is already available.

A step backward?

Critics argue that USDOT’s reversal undermines public safety, particularly for highway users who share the road with heavy trucks. “This isn’t just about regulation — it’s about protecting families and professional drivers alike,” Martin said.

As fatalities involving large commercial vehicles trend upward, safety advocates warn that abandoning speed limiter rules now could have deadly consequences in the years to come.