The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) under Director Russ Vought on Tuesday closed a Biden-era investigation against Credova, a subsidiary of Public Square that provides consumer financing for firearms, believing this is yet another example of weaponization of government that the Trump administration hopes to end, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.
In a letter obtained by Breitbart News, Mark Paoletta, the chief legal officer for the CFPB, wrote to James Giudice, the general counsel and chief legal officer for the Public Square Holdings:
I am writing to inform you that the Bureau is closing its investigation into Credova Financial, LLC that has been going on since February 2021. After reviewing the case, the Bureau has determined that this investigation exemplifies the type of weaponization against disfavored industries and individuals that President Trump and Acting Director Vought are committed to ending. Credova’s use of innovative financial technology solutions to provide consumer financing to facilitate Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights made it a target for the Bureau. It is also one of numerous regulation-by-enforcement actions for which the CFPB under former Director Chopra became infamous. That is unacceptable and ends today. [Emphasis added]
“The record of this investigation clearly demonstrates that it was conducted in a biased manner that targeted Credova’s exercise of its constitutional rights and facilitation of others’ exercise of their constitutional rights,” Paoletta continued. ”
Credova, is a “buy now, pay later,” provider of firearms financing that faced a potential enforcement action from the Biden-era CFPB. Credova is owned by Public Square, which operates as a “non-woke” online marketplace, and in an August 2024 quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) noted that the CFPB has been authorized to pursue an enforcement action about Credova’s lease products and has suggested “injunctive relief.”
“In the early stages of negotiations, the Bureau’s staff even expressed its view that to reach an agreement, Credova should consent to cease leasing firearms as part of its business,” Paoletta wrote.
The CFPB letter stated that more than 90 percent of its business came from the shooting sports space, including firearms, and that the Bureau’s agreement “unmistakably appear targeted at shutting down Credova’s firearms business through crushing monetary penalties and arbitrary injunctive restrictions.”
Paoletta said he was “appalled” to learn how “plainly politically motivated” the Bureau’s actions were, as the “Bureau ratcheted up its settlement demands, via a proposed consent decree” the same day that Donald Trump Jr. joined Public Square’s Board of Directors.
Trump Jr. wrote in March 2024, “I’m proud to be an investor in the company that is leading the way in the parallel economy. The acquisition of the leading buy now, pay later company that services the 2A industry, Credova, will help $PSQH in building the pro-freedom marketplace.”
“The Bureau then pressured Credova to settle before the inauguration of President Trump. I am glad that Credova had the fortitude to resist that pressure,” he added.
He noted that New York Attorney General Letitia James “exercised utterly inappropriate influence” over the Biden-era CFPB investigation, even though Credova did not conduct business in the state of New York.
“In sum, this investigation was not aimed at protecting consumers, but at suppressing activities protected by the First and Second Amendment. This investigation also represents precisely the kind of unconstitutional targeting that President Trump prohibited in his Executive Order on debanking,” Paoletta wrote.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
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