The Gordon Gekko Tax Break

🔥 Today in The Lever: Who’s behind an alleged decades-long price-fixing conspiracy in the bail bond industry?

👇 Spend four minutes reading this 1056-word newsletter to learn about: 

• The Trump administration’s decision that redlining is A-OK
• How the FBI became CEOs’ personal police force.
• A tax write-off for loading up small businesses with debt.
• Why health care industry fraud is so bad.

❌ CFPB changes its mind on discrimination. Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau vacated its own settlement with mortgage lender Townstone for discriminating against Black home buyers. While the bureau brought the case during Trump’s first term, its new crop of regulators want to return the six-figure penalty to Townstone, saying their predecessors used “radical ‘equity’ arguments” to abuse its power when enforcing “unjust” anti-redlining law. 

• In February, the White House singled out Townstone’s case in a statement about dismantling the CFPB, and the insurer was represented in renegotiations by a Leonard Leo-affiliated conservative legal foundation. Since the inauguration, the agency has dropped numerous investigations into banks accused of violating consumer protection law — including companies owned by Trump’s donors.