CFPB Drops Biden-Era Lawsuit Against Walmart, Fintech Partner

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its lawsuit against Walmart Inc. and one of its financial-technology partners, the latest of the agency’s Biden-era enforcement actions to be abandoned by President Donald Trump’s administration.

The CFPB formally moved Tuesday to dismiss the lawsuit, filed in December in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. The notice of dismissal, signed by the agency’s chief legal officer, Mark Paoletta, is the latest in a flurry of abandoned enforcement actions, including lawsuits against Capital One Financial Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The CFPB alleged that Walmart and Branch Messenger Inc. allegedly opened costly bank accounts for those in the retailer’s Spark Driver program without their consent. The CFPB filed the lawsuit when the agency was led by Rohit Chopra under President Joe Biden.

The consumer watchdog has been largely hobbled since Trump took office. Beyond the lawsuit dismissals, a wide-ranging work-stoppage order has employees working at home and the future of the agency in doubt.