Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has been sounding the alarm since before President Trump’s second administration even began that the president’s blatant disregard for ethics laws and norms could pave the way for corruption, the misuse of taxpayer funds and personal enrichment over the public good.
Now, it appears that members of his administration are following the president’s example. U.S. DOGE Service (DOGE) employee Gavin Kliger, assigned to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), appears to have violated significant conflict of interest regulations meant to prevent public officials from enriching themselves through their jobs.
CLC is calling on ethics enforcers to launch an investigation and, if they determine that the law was broken, hold Kliger accountable.
Why do we have conflict of interest laws?
Corruption happens when powerful people abuse their positions for personal gain. Corruption can take many forms, like a politician accepting bribes or an official using their government position to make their businesses more money.
Learn more about corruption and conflicts of interest here.
When a politician or government official has personal financial stakes — like stocks or business interests — that could prevent them from making an unbiased decision, this is a conflict of interest.
Ethics laws are designed to ensure conflicts of interest do not impact the work of public officials. The CFPB aims to prevent conflicts of interest by prohibiting its employees from holding stock in several companies that the agency directly regulates, dubbed “prohibited holdings.”
Kliger held up to $715,000 of these prohibited stock holdings. He was warned by ethics officials that he could be violating ethics laws and was advised not to participate in any agency actions that could bring him personal benefit.
By overseeing the layoffs of over 1,400 CFPB employees — including the ethics lawyers who advised him — while holding stock the CFPB deemed to pose conflicts of interest, it seems likely that Kliger violated federal ethics regulations.
CLC filed a complaint with the Designated Ethics Agency Official (DEAO) at the CFPB urging an investigation into whether Kliger broke the law.
Campaign Legal Center is holding government officials accountable.
With ethics enforcement mechanisms being dismantled by the Trump administration across the government, CLC’s work is more important than ever in making sure that officials work for the public, not themselves.
When megadonor and tech mogul Elon Musk used his massive influence in the administration to potentially further the business interests of his satellite company Starlink, CLC acted quickly to call him out.
We filed a complaint against Musk for this alleged self-dealing, and we’ve called out other members of the administration for pedaling Musk’s business interests, including Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who appeared to use his official capacity to promote Tesla stock.
Alongside taking legal action and keeping a watchful eye on our public officials, CLC’s consistent advocacy for stronger ethics enforcement is an important part of keeping our government accountable. Congress just re-affirmed the importance of ethics enforcement by preserving the Office of Congressional Conduct, following pressure from CLC and our partners.
Campaign Legal Center’s work highlighting threats to our ethics laws and pushing for reform continues. Join us today to support the fight for a government that works for the people, not politicians.
