During the First Year of Trump’s Second Term, Federal Agencies Canceled and Froze Enforcement Against 166 Alleged Corporate Lawbreakers. Since day one of President Trump’s second term, Public Citizen’s Corporate Enforcement Tracker has monitored federal enforcement actions brought against corporations that Trump inherited from the Biden administration. These enforcement actions include investigations, enforcement lawsuits, and other accountability measures for alleged lawbreaking by many of the largest and most powerful corporations, from Amazon to Zoom and hundreds in between. This new analysis shows the dramatic extent of Trump’s retreat from enforcement against corporate crime and lawbreaking after just one year in office. Download the full report 

Key Findings

• The Trump administration canceled 145 enforcement actions against 153 corporations facing federal investigations, enforcement lawsuits, or other accountability measures for alleged lawbreaking.
• Additionally, enforcement actions against 14 corporations have been frozen, for a total of 159 canceled or halted enforcement actions against 166 corporations. (Frozen cases may resume or ultimately be canceled as well.)
• Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant and previous employer of Attorney General Pam Bondi, is the top beneficiary of Trump’s canceled corporate enforcement, with three enforcement actions led by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) canceled since Trump took office.
• Corporations that have benefited from two canceled enforcement actions each include Bank of America, Binance, Capital One, Charles River Laboratories International, GE Healthcare, Globe Life, Peloton, Polymarket, and Toyota. Paypal has one canceled and one frozen enforcement action.
• As a result of Trump’s corporate enforcement retreat, at least eighteen corporations accused of lawbreaking avoided paying $3.1 billion in penalties for misconduct, including 12 that benefited from canceled enforcement and six that settled enforcement actions with penalties significantly reduced from those sought under Biden. (This is certainly an undercount, as it includes only instances where the penalty reduction is most clear.)
• 58% of this unpaid penalty amount is from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against Ripple alleging securities violations. Biden’s SEC sought $1.95 billion in penalties, Trump’s SEC agreed to a $125 million settlement. Ripple contributed $4.9 million towards Trump’s inauguration.
• 21% of the unpaid penalty amount is from the $660 million in restitution DOJ prosecutors sought from Nikola CEO Trevor Milton, who was convicted in 2023. Milton’s legal representation included Attorney General Pam Bondi’s brother, Brad Bondi, and Marc Mukasey, who has represented the Trump Organization. Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million toward Trump’s reelection. Trump pardoned Milton.
• $40 million of the unpaid penalty amount is from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) consent decree with Toyota for consumer protection violations, including directing consumers to a dead-end cancellation hotline, withholding refunds, and knowingly tarnishing credit reports with false data. Toyota donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
• Trump’s canceled and halted enforcement actions are not distributed evenly across the government:
• One third (53) of the enforcement actions involved canceled DOJ investigations, lawsuits, and other accountability measures.
• Canceled or frozen CFPB cases (45) make up nearly another third.
• Other agencies where the Trump administration canceled or halted a disproportionate number of enforcement actions include the SEC (30), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC, 11), and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC, 10).
• Consumer protection enforcement has particularly suffered under Trump.
• 40% of the canceled or frozen enforcement actions (64) were against corporations for alleged consumer protection violations.
• Other significant areas of retreat include cryptocurrency enforcement (22), worker protection (18), antitrust and competition-related enforcement (17), and foreign corruption and bribery (15).