According to the FTC’s January 2023 complaint, LCA-Vision, doing business as LasikPlus and Joffe MediCenter, used deceptive bait-and-switch advertising to trick consumers into believing they could have their vision corrected for less than $300. In reality, only 6.5% of consumers lured in for consultations were eligible for the advertised promotional price for both eyes. To be eligible for the promotion, consumers had to already have near-normal vision (good enough to drive without glasses).

In some ads, LasikPlus also neglected to tell consumers that the promotional price was per-eye—not the total amount. After consumers spent considerable time and effort undergoing lengthy full-dilation eye exams and in-person consultations, the company typically quoted a price between $1,800 and $2,295 per eye for the procedure. Today, the FTC is compensating consumers for their wasted time.

The FTC is sending checks and PayPal payments to 12,077 consumers who filed a valid claim before the deadline. Consumers should cash their check within 90 days or redeem their PayPal payment within 30 days.

Consumers who have questions about their payment should contact the refund administrator, JND Legal Administration, at 877-871-0504 or visit the FTC’s website to view frequently asked questions about the refund process. The Commission never requires people to pay money or provide account information to get a refund.

The Commission’s interactive dashboards for refund data provide a state-by-state breakdown of refunds in FTC cases. In 2023, FTC actions led to $330 million in refunds to consumers across the country.

As Prepared for Delivery  

Good afternoon and thank you all for being here today. I have been looking forward to this conference and would like to thank the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM), the Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU), and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) for hosting this event. The focus of today’s conference – delivering high integrity carbon markets – is critically important to meeting our climate goals. As stated by Secretary Yellen, to meet the challenges of climate change, “We need to use all the tools at our disposal—creatively, thoughtfully, and at scale.”  

As the Secretary mentioned in her speech earlier today, several US government agencies came together to issue the Voluntary Carbon Markets Joint Policy Statement and Principles in May of this year. These VCM Principles acknowledged that the market, in its current state, isn’t working as well as it should.  They highlighted the need for improvements in supply integrity, demand integrity, and market integrity, each of which is a necessary condition to support the quality, consistency, and scale of the market.  

Today, I will be speaking mainly about market integrity issues in the VCMs. But before I do, I would like to acknowledge the critical and complementary efforts around supply and demand integrity.  

Before publishing the VCM Principles, buyers consistently told us that discovering and identifying high quality credits had been their most significant challenge. There are hundreds of methodologies in the market, and it can be difficult for any single buyer to discern the supply integrity of credits. Buyers still see this as a challenge, but I have been pleased to see that the market has begun to make some progress in this area, progress that needs to continue.

Institutions like IC-VCM are simplifying the search process by setting integrity floors for credit quality. A single Core Carbon Principle-Approved label that cuts across a wide range of methodologies and standards should make it easier for buyers and other market participants to assess and compare credits available for purchase.  

Credit standard bodies are updating methodologies to ensure projects deliver additional and durable emissions impacts. Carbon credit rating firms have continued to issue ratings on new and existing carbon credit projects, helping buyers to be more discerning in their choice of credits. And on the regulatory front, the CFTC recently published final guidance for regulated exchanges, allowing for industry-recognized standards to be used as tools for the evaluation of carbon credits underlying futures contracts. A more robust futures market will also help support market integrity, particularly with respect to price transparency.  

The VCM Principles published in May also spoke to the importance of demand integrity. Corporate buyers should prioritize reducing their own emissions through adopting net-zero targets, planning their climate transitions, and being transparent about their efforts and progress. However, VCMs can also play a significant and complementary role in these efforts. We support ongoing efforts in the market to create frameworks that allow companies to use high quality carbon credits to further accelerate their progress toward net-zero.  

Once a mechanism for ensuring the supply integrity of carbon credits and their appropriate use is in place, it is then equally important to ensure that the buying and selling of these credits is efficient, which is why I am pleased to open this conversation on market integrity.

A well-functioning market should make it easy for participants to buy and sell a given product through clear product disclosure, transparent price information, efficient settlement, and without excessive search costs.  Accordingly, the VCM Principles state that stakeholders should improve “transparency and the publicly available data of credit-generating projects and programs, including transaction volumes and prices.”  

Treasury’s responsibility for US financial markets leads us to naturally focus on the market structure of VCMs.  We hear from market participants that buying a carbon credit is an opaque and time-consuming process. Carbon credits from the same project can trade at vastly different prices, and some buyers have even told us that they spend over 50 percent of their carbon credit budget in search costs. The US capital markets are large, deep, liquid, and efficient. This is thanks not only to a robust and innovative private sector, but also to a combination of regulatory and market structures that promote transparency, efficiency, fairness, and measures that mitigate conflicts of interest.  

We can draw from our expertise in existing financial markets to help strengthen VCMs. I will suggest a few ideas today, ideas that we believe represent the most fundamental elements of market integrity that are currently lacking in VCMs and are essential to unlocking buyer demand. These ideas will focus on both improving data quality and comparability and enhancing price transparency in VCMs.  

Carbon markets have grown organically, with a broad ecosystem of registries, compliance programs, methodologies, measurement and verification systems, and products. There is no widely accepted and consistent data protocol across the industry at the current time. Collaboration and data sharing across parties is fragmented, cumbersome, and holding back the market’s evolution.  

Developing interoperable data protocols for carbon credits and making this information available to the public can promote market trust and integrity. A data protocol where every carbon credit includes consistent data tags for project location, rating, description, issuance, and units, among other features, regardless of its original crediting program, would allow for credits to become comparable across market platforms and registries. This would facilitate easier benchmarking and aggregation of product baskets, as well as the creation of global identifiers, and lead to more financial scalability and innovation.  

I understand that several market participants have begun to explore how to structure accessible data across the carbon credit lifecycle and make it available to the marketplace. Some examples include meta-registries from private market participants, and a blockchain-based open data platform. Some market integrity consultation groups have been formed recently to discuss global data protocols, among other topics. We commend these efforts and look forward to tracking progress on this topic as it develops.  

Today, the vast majority of transactions in voluntary carbon markets are over the counter (OTC), meaning buyers and sellers negotiate prices directly or through a broker. These OTC transactions are typically opaque, with pricing and transaction details generally remaining confidential. While we have seen the emergence of several OTC pricing data sources, these sources are heavily dependent on what buyers and sellers will report voluntarily. Data can be reported by market participants with a long lag of up to a year, and is often aggregated such that single transaction prices, date stamps, vintages, and other useful datapoints for price formation and discovery are unavailable.

Some platforms and exchanges aim to standardize this landscape by offering harmonized contracts that enhance transparency and accessibility for all market participants. Despite these efforts, a significant spread persists between OTC and exchange-listed prices, underscoring the market's continued reliance on OTC mechanisms and highlighting the challenges in achieving a cohesive price discovery framework.  

Market participants should consider the benefits of price and transaction transparency in VCMs. Increased transparency will lead to market prices reflecting fundamental information more clearly, such as project details, integrity floors, and ratings, thereby mitigating information asymmetries. If price history were available to market participants, buyers could look across projects and credits to better understand and assess an appropriate price of carbon and use those prices to forecast and plan future purchases. More pricing credibility will lead to more buyers.  

Increasing transparency is not always easy, but it is a common theme in successful market evolution. A repository where price and transaction history for carbon credits are gathered, organized, and stored would have a transformative effect in VCMs.  In other established markets, such as the consolidated tape systems for equities, or the swap data repositories for swap markets and TRACE for corporate bonds, this shared data allows for deeper liquidity and investment, and ultimately enables the kind of long-term growth we need from VCMs to reach our climate goals.  

The Treasury Department continues to support a high-integrity voluntary carbon market and looks forward to contributing our expertise and convening power to help develop solutions to market integrity. With the right market structure in VCMs, we can succeed in unlocking buyer demand and strengthening trust and credibility in this market.  

To conclude, we are confident that with improved integrity and marketplace function, VCMs can reach their full potential. We applaud and thank the ICVCM, VCMI, and GCMU for co-hosting this event and organizing today’s session. I look forward to hearing new perspectives from those present and thank you again for the opportunity to share our views on this subject from the Treasury Department

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The strike that killed Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’s massacre on October 7, 2023.  Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a “northern front” against Israel.

The United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.  Just yesterday, I directed my Secretary of Defense to further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war.

Ultimately, our aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means.  In Gaza, we have been pursuing a deal backed by the UN Security Council for a ceasefire and the release of hostages.  In Lebanon, we have been negotiating a deal that would return people safely to their homes in Israel and southern Lebanon.  It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability.

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At the conclusion of the summit, FTC Chair Lina M. Khan and other representatives of the G7 competition authorities and government policymakers issued a Communiqué highlighting potential competition concerns in AI-related markets and identifying guiding principles to ensure fair competition across AI markets.

The Communiqué underscores the important role that competition authorities and policymakers have in addressing competitive threats. As the Communiqué outlines, concentrated market power in AI-related markets and possible collusion or improper information sharing using AI technologies require careful vigilance and vigorous and timely competition enforcement. The G7 competition authorities and policymakers reaffirmed that they are working to ensure there is open and fair competition in digital markets and AI and seeking to ensure that the benefits of AI are fully realized and widely available across society.

The summit was convened by the G7 Industry, Technology and Digital Ministerial Declaration and hosted in Rome by the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) in conjunction with Italy’s rotating G7 presidency.

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury hosted a roundtable with representatives from financial institutions, technology providers, financial technology firms, small business associations, consumer advocacy groups, government agencies, Federal Reserve banks, and other stakeholders to discuss how financial institutions, including depository and non-depository institutions, can better support the small business community.  

At the roundtable, participants discussed the current state of small business finance, obstacles faced by small businesses owned by women and people of color, challenges faced by financial institutions in serving small businesses, and potential solutions to bridge financing gaps.  

Treasury Department officials led discussions on how recent market developments – such as the growth of nonbanks, rising interest rates, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence – affected small business financing.  Participants also discussed factors that have contributed to the relative decline of small business financing by banks, disparities in capital access across demographic groups, and potential policy reforms that could help address these challenges.

Treasury recently released a report showing that small businesses have created over 70% of net new American jobs since 2019.  Recent data showed that accessing the necessary financing to grow their businesses remains a significant challenge for many small business owners.  Treasury will continue to engage with stakeholders to help facilitate a strong, competitive, and inclusive marketplace for small business capital. 

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The road to recovery will be long, but know that my Administration will be with you every step of the way. We’re not going to walk away. We’re not going to give up. As we turn toward recovery efforts, we will make certain that no resource is spared to ensure that families, businesses, schools, hospitals, and entire communities can quickly begin their road to rebuilding. Jill and I are praying for those who lost loved ones from Hurricane Helene, and for those whose homes, businesses, and communities were impacted by this terrible storm.

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WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is undertaking actions as part of a coordinated international effort to disrupt Russian cybercrime services. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is issuing an order that identifies PM2BTC—a Russian virtual currency exchanger associated with Russian individual Sergey Sergeevich Ivanov (Ivanov)—as being of “primary money laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance. Concurrently, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning Ivanov and Cryptex—a virtual currency exchange registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and operating in Russia. The FinCEN and OFAC actions are being issued in conjunction with actions by other U.S. government agencies and international law enforcement partners to hold accountable Ivanov and the associated virtual currency services. 

“The United States and our international partners remain resolute in our commitment to prevent cybercrime facilitators like PM2BTC and Cryptex from operating with impunity,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “Treasury, in close coordination with our allies and partners, will continue to use all tools and authorities to disrupt the networks that seek to leverage the virtual assets ecosystem to facilitate their illicit activities.”

Treasury’s actions aim to protect U.S. national security and the integrity of the U.S. financial system by cutting off illicit financial institutions from the U.S. market. These actions exemplify how Treasury is leveraging international cooperation and all available tools to counter the ransomware threat and target Russian illicit financial activity. The United States has pressed the Russian government to take concrete steps to prevent cyber criminals from freely operating in its jurisdiction.

A coordinated, international effort to combat russian illicit finance

In coordination with OFAC and FinCEN’s actions, other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement partners are also taking related actions. The U.S. Secret Service’s Cyber Investigative Section, the Netherlands Police, and the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) have seized web domains and/or infrastructure associated with PM2BTC, UAPS, and Cryptex. The U.S. Department of State has issued a reward offer up to $10 million through its Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ivanov. Lastly, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia are unsealing an indictment of Ivanov and another Russian national, Timur Shakhmametov. These actions by U.S. and Dutch agencies were taken in partnership with Operation Endgame, a multinational coordinated cyber operation with European partners, to dismantle financial enablers of transnational organized cybercrime.    

PM2BTC: A primary money laundering concern

FinCEN’s order identifying the virtual currency exchange PM2BTC, a virtual currency exchanger associated with Ivanov, as being of “primary money laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance is made pursuant to section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act (as amended). The order is effective immediately and prohibits certain transmittals of funds involving PM2BTC by any covered financial institution. 

As set out in the order, PM2BTC facilitates the laundering of convertible virtual currency (CVC) associated with ransomware and other illicit actors operating in Russia. PM2BTC provides direct CVC-to-ruble exchange services using U.S.-sanctioned financial institutions, otherwise facilitates sanctions evasion, and has failed to maintain a credible and effective anti-money laundering and know your customer (KYC) program. FinCEN found that nearly half of PM2BTC’s exchange activity had links to illicit activity, and correspondingly, that PM2BTC facilitates a substantially greater proportion of transactions with apparent links to money laundering activity in connection with Russian illicit finance as compared to 99 percent of other virtual asset service providers. FinCEN also determined that PM2BTC employs an unusual obfuscation that inhibits attribution of transactions to illicit activity and actors. The same technique has notably been used by several virtual currency exchanges of concern, some of which are sanctioned by OFAC. 

The text of FinCEN’s order can be found here. 

Cryptex And Ivanov: russian facilitators of cybercrime

Cryptex is a virtual currency exchange registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines under the name “International Payment Service Provider” that provides financial services to cybercriminals and is operating in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy. Cryptex advertises its virtual currency services in Russian and has received over $51.2 million in funds derived from ransomware attacks. Cryptex is also associated with over $720 million in transactions to services frequently used by Russia-based ransomware actors and cybercriminals, including fraud shops, mixing services, exchanges lacking KYC programs, and OFAC-designated virtual currency exchange Garantex. OFAC is designating Cryptex pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694, as amended by E.O. 13757 (“E.O. 13694, as amended”), for being responsible for or complicit in, or for having engaged in, directly or indirectly, a cyber-enabled activity identified pursuant to E.O. 13694, as amended, and pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy.

Sergey Sergeevich Ivanov is an alleged Russian money launderer, who has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency for ransomware actors, initial access brokers, darknet marketplace vendors, and other criminal actors for approximately the last 20 years. Through various payment processing services, including one that does business under the name “UAPS,” Ivanov has served as the payment processor for various fraud shops, including OFAC-designated Genesis Market, whose website was taken down by law enforcement in 2023. Ivanov is currently associated with Cryptex. OFAC is designating Ivanov pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy. 

OFAC’s designations follow several recent U.S. Treasury actions to combat Russia-based cyber criminals and further illustrates that Russia continues to offer safe harbor to such actors. These include the July 19, 2024 designation of two members of the Russian hacktivist group Cyber Army of Russia Reborn; the May 7, 2024 designation of Dmitry Khoroshev, also known as LockBitSupp, who is a leader of the LockBit ransomware group; and the February 20, 2024 designation of LockBit affiliates Ivan Kondratiev and Artur Sungatov. The individual and entity designated today facilitated transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars for cybercriminals and cybercrime services, including ransomware actors and OFAC-designated darknet market Genesis Market. 

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today’s action by OFAC, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. 

Financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. Foreign financial institutions that conduct or facilitate significant transactions or provide any service involving Russia’s military-industrial base run the risk of being sanctioned by OFAC. For additional guidance, please see the updated OFAC advisory, “Updated Guidance for Foreign Financial Institutions on OFAC Sanctions Authorities Targeting Support to Russia’s Military-Industrial Base,” as well as OFAC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 1146-1157.

The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. 

For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897 here. 

For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please click here.

For more information on the individuals and entities that OFAC designated today, click here.

For questions on FinCEN’s order, please contact the FinCEN Resource Center at 1-800-767-2825 or electronically at frc@fincen.gov.

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I have an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel. I will always support Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis. 

President Biden and I do not want to see conflict in the Middle East escalate into a broader regional war. We have been working on a diplomatic solution along the Israel-Lebanon border so that people can safely return home on both sides of that border. Diplomacy remains the best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region.

# # #

The new oversight provisions were proposed and published for public comment in the Federal Register on February 8, 2024. After careful review and consideration of the entire record, including 10 comments submitted by interested parties, the Commission has adopted, with a few modifications, the proposed new oversight rule to promote transparency and accountability in the Authority’s operations.

Among other things, the new rule provisions require the Authority to: 1) submit annual and mid-year reports to the FTC; 2) develop and publish a multi-year strategic plan; 3) manage risks to prevent conflicts of interest, waste, fraud, embezzlement, and abuse; and 4) follow other best practices specified in the new rule.

The Commission voted 5-0 to approve the final new rule.

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you for the introduction. I’m very glad that I’m able to join you for this tenth annual Treasury Market Conference. This conference helps the government identify ways to further improve the functioning and resilience of the Treasury market, which is of course core to the functioning and resilience of the U.S. financial system as a whole. And this makes it a fitting place for me to share my thoughts on the work I and my colleagues across the Biden-Harris Administration have done to navigate financial stresses and strengthen the U.S. financial system over the past three and a half years. In my remarks today, I’ll address why this work is so important, our approach to achieving a healthy and resilient financial system, and what we’ve accomplished.

I. The Importance of a Resilient Financial System

I’ve focused on financial stability as Treasury Secretary and throughout my career because of a deep conviction concerning the importance of the U.S. financial system to U.S. economic prosperity. I’ve seen through many businesses cycles and financial stresses that a strong, dynamic, and resilient financial system is key to a strong, dynamic, and resilient economy.

When the financial system works as it should, it helps American households finance home purchases and save for their children’s educations. It enables businesses to get the capital they need to grow and hire and to invest in new innovations. It allows households and businesses to manage their risks so that they’re prepared for the future.

Our strong financial system was crucial to our historic economic recovery, with banks continuing to lend and provide other critical services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, our financial system is crucial to our medium- and long-term economic agenda, supporting the record growth in new business applications we’ve seen under this Administration and the massive investments in infrastructure, clean energy, and manufacturing that are at the heart of the strategy I’ve called modern supply-side economics.

We should also never forget what happens when the financial system does not work as it should. During the Global Financial Crisis, the collapse of large and complex financial institutions and fragile short-term funding markets spread stresses through the financial system and then to the real economy. More than eight million Americans lost their jobs, the unemployment rate rose to 10 percent, and the net worth of American households fell by more than $10 trillion. The recession was the deepest since World War II, lasting six quarters.

All of this leaves no question about the need for a resilient financial system. But in January of 2021, I stepped into a Treasury Department whose focus on financial stability had all but disappeared. I knew that this could lead to devastating results for American families, businesses, and financial institutions. So, I worked to restore our government’s focus on financial stability and to craft an approach to build and maintain a financial system that households and businesses can count on day-to-day and that supports economic prosperity in the long-run.

II. Our Approach

Our approach includes a focus on shoring up strong core foundations of the financial system, including safe and sound financial institutions, financial market utilities and central clearing counterparties, protections for investors and consumers, and financial market integrity.

We also, however, recognize the necessity of considering the stability of the system as a whole. We see that connectivity between different financial institutions and markets—from direct linkages to correlated trades—can create outsized effects on the broader financial system and on our economy.

This understanding is rooted in recent history. In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, the United States and other countries enacted important financial reforms and pursued new macroprudential policies focused on mitigating systemic risk. At home, there were some who strongly opposed the Dodd-Frank Act, arguing that its regulation would hold back innovation and economic growth. I and many others have insisted on the opposite: Appropriate regulation is critical to supporting a resilient financial system that serves as an engine for innovation and growth.

Our view has been borne out. Critics’ warnings, for example, that regulation would undermine the competitiveness of U.S. banks, did not come to pass. Reforms strengthened the financial system, including by equipping banks with substantially more and higher-quality capital that made them better positioned to extend credit to households and businesses that needed it during the pandemic.

But we’re well aware that financial intermediation continues to evolve, including in response to reforms. The pandemic also caused profound financial market disruptions like the global dash for cash in March of 2020, revealing additional vulnerabilities including in short-term funding markets.

Finally, our approach reflects the importance of collaboration and communication across regulators and other authorities. Responding to financial crises requires swift, coordinated action. Identifying vulnerabilities requires sharing insights. We recognized this need in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis as well and established the Financial Stability Oversight Council to inform a more holistic view of and approach to risks.

But the Council was severely weakened during the prior Administration. When I took office, the number of Council staff had been cut to single digits. The Council’s analysis team at Treasury, which monitors systemic risks, had been eliminated. The infrastructure supporting interagency engagement and coordination had been significantly scaled back. Put simply, we were without crucial tools to identify and help respond to risks to financial stability. This meant we faced an increased likelihood that risks would materialize into negative impacts on American households and businesses.

So, we rebuilt FSOC, scaling up staff and increasing opportunities for agencies to come together to share expertise and insights. FSOC’s new Analytic Framework for Financial Stability Risks is also critical, identifying key vulnerabilities, transmission channels, and authorities to mitigate risks. This positions the Council to take more effective action. And it increases public transparency.

III. Key Accomplishments

Let me now turn to how we’ve deployed this focus on core foundations, the system as a whole, and collaboration and communication to meet challenges in four key areas. I’ll address how we’ve improved the resilience of the Treasury market; implemented an effective and targeted response so that the regional banking stress in 2023 did not derail our recovery; addressed the diverse risks posed by the evolving nonbank sector; and tackled cross-cutting risks. I’ll also speak to our global work.

A. Treasury Market

Given where we are, I’ll start with the Treasury market. As this audience knows well, the Treasury market carries out a range of critical functions. Treasury securities are used to finance our government at the lowest cost to the taxpayer and by the Federal Reserve to implement monetary policy. A strong Treasury market helps underpin the role of the dollar in global transactions. Treasuries are a major fixed-income asset for investors around the world and serve as collateral for a wide variety of transactions. They’re also used as a reference benchmark for global asset prices.

So, since the start of this Administration, our focus on strong core foundations has led to wide-ranging work with other agencies and the private sector to strengthen the Treasury market so that it remains the deepest, most liquid market in the world. Even as there’s always more to do, we’ve made significant progress and documented it each year, publishing the latest report just last week. 

We’ve supported transparency and enabled the government to better assess vulnerabilities by increasing the availability and quality of data on Treasury market activity. For example, just this year, we’ve made more information on Treasury market trading activity available to the public. And we’ll soon begin collecting transaction-level data in the non-centrally cleared bilateral repo market—likely the largest repo market segment in the U.S. and concerningly the one for which the least information has been available.

We’re helping bolster market liquidity through a new Treasury buyback program that provides regular opportunities for dealers to sell off-the-run Treasuries back to Treasury.  Buybacks also strengthen Treasury’s cash management—including to reduce borrowing costs over time.

We’ve made progress in standardizing risk management through the SEC’s adoption of a new rule to expand central clearing in the Treasury market. And we’ve increased consistent regulatory oversight and enhanced investor protection with a rule clarifying when liquidity providers are required to register as dealers.

B. Banks

But as I laid out, our approach considers not just strong core foundations, but also the stability of the system as a whole and the need for strong communication and coordination. Our response to the regional banking stress in 2023 showcased how we’re making good on all of these aspects.

A year and a half ago now, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank experienced runs that were particularly large and fast by historical standards. These banks had seen rapid deposit growth, especially in uninsured deposits, as well as significant unrealized losses on their securities portfolios. Their runs were followed by deposit outflows from other regional and mid-sized banks that were perceived to have similar weaknesses.

We knew we needed to mitigate what was a serious risk of contagion. So, we acted decisively. Regulators moved quickly to close the banks. After receiving recommendations from the Boards of the FDIC and the Fed and consulting with the President, I approved invoking the systemic risk exception during that first weekend. This enabled uninsured depositors at these banks to have access to their funds on Monday morning so that they could pay their employees and suppliers. And that same weekend, with my approval, the Fed established the Bank Term Funding Program to help limit broader contagion.

Our efforts were successful, building on the base of a banking system strengthened by the reforms following the Global Financial Crisis. We prevented contagion that could have destabilized the broader financial system and derailed our economic recovery. And we made sure that American taxpayers didn’t bear the costs.

We’re well aware, however, that we need to address the core weaknesses these banking stresses revealed, and we urge moving forward on key next steps. We need greater supervisory attention on banks with less stable deposits, and we need regulations that account for unrealized losses on securities. We also need changes so that banks are better prepared for liquidity stress, such as making sure that they have diverse sources of contingency funding and especially that they have the capacity to borrow at the discount window and periodically test this capacity. This includes considering establishing collateral pre-positioning requirements to facilitate borrowing from the discount window, improving the discount window’s operational capacity, and enhancing coordination between the discount window and the Federal Home Loan Banks. And we also need to support regulators’ efforts to strengthen long-term debt requirements for regional banks so that they can be more effectively resolved if they do fail.

C. Nonbanks

Our understanding of the need for a holistic approach has also driven work on nonbanks, which have become an increasingly important part of the U.S. financial system over the past few decades. Credit provided by U.S. nonbank intermediaries has been growing more quickly than bank credit and now exceeds on-balance sheet bank credit. This makes nonbanks an essential source of financing, with different segments of the sector supporting diverse activities, from trading to retail. And this also means we need to focus on their vulnerabilities.

Making sure FSOC has the tools it needs has been at the heart of our work. Last November, the Council took a key step forward by issuing updated guidance that establishes a transparent and durable process for how the Council uses its authority to designate a nonbank financial company for Fed supervision and prudential standards. This strengthens the Council’s ability to promote a resilient financial system. 

But designation remains only one of FSOC’s statutory authorities, and the nonbank sector is heterogeneous and diverse, so we’ve also pursued much broader work.

We’ve made progress addressing investment funds with features that create financial vulnerabilities, such as through the SEC increasing liquidity requirements for money market mutual funds to reduce run risk. FSOC member agencies continue working to support better data collection and monitoring to identify risks from highly leveraged hedge funds and the growth in private credit. In other areas, like open-end funds, the SEC and industry should continue to explore potential options to address remaining vulnerabilities.

We’ve also focused on the increase in market share of nonbank mortgage servicers, which perform critical functions like collecting payments. FSOC, using its new Analytic Framework, issued a report finding that stress in this sector could harm mortgage borrowers and disrupt economic activity. Its recommendations include encouraging state regulators to strengthen prudential standards and require resolution and recovery planning and calling for congressional action to establish a fund to facilitate continuity of servicing operations in the event of stress while avoiding taxpayer-funded bailouts.

We’ve also identified new vulnerabilities related to newer entrants like fintechs and technological changes, including vulnerabilities presented by the significant growth of digital assets and trading platforms. Our work included issuing a report on digital assets and one on stablecoins, both of which assessed risks and called for Congress to legislate to close regulatory gaps while supporting innovation.

D. Cross-Cutting Risks

And across banks and nonbanks, we have also been focused on what I’ll refer to today as cross-cutting risks, including those related to cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and climate.

To combat cyber risks, we’ve helped lead a multi-year effort in collaboration with the private sector to bolster the safe and effective use of cloud services. We worked with banks to launch a cybersecurity alliance called Project Fortress: a public-private partnership through which we’re joining forces with financial institutions of different sizes to deploy defensive measures like a tool that scans for vulnerabilities and offensive measures like sanctions to hold perpetrators of cyber-related activities accountable. AI could provide an advantage, at least initially, to cyber threat actors, so we’ve responded by providing a playbook for financial institutions on best practices for managing AI-specific cyber risks.

More broadly, we also see that AI technologies bring significant potential for efficiency and other benefits but also potential risks. We are working to monitor adoption, identify vulnerabilities, and assess whether existing regulations are sufficient to mitigate them or new ones are needed.

We’ve focused on climate-related risks to financial stability as well. The Council’s work to strengthen interagency coordination has been key, given gaps in data and fast-evolving risk-assessment methodologies. The Office of Financial Research launched a cutting-edge platform that provides regulators access to climate and financial data to support more research and analysis. And we’re currently collaborating with state insurance regulators to collect data on the cost and availability of homeowners insurance at the zip-code level to help us better understand the risks to the financial system from increasingly severe and frequent climate-related disasters.

E. Global Work

Addressing cyber, AI technologies, climate and many other risks also requires applying another aspect of our approach: coordination and collaboration, including across jurisdictions.

Risks don’t respect national borders. The largest financial firms operate in many countries, and cross-border investor flows are sizable. This means we need to coordinate and communicate regularly with our counterparts in other countries, and to engage through multilateral groups, like the G7, G20, and Financial Stability Board. We got a powerful reminder of the importance of strong international coordination, and especially the need for a well-functioning international framework for recovery and resolution, just last year with the failure of Credit Suisse.

So, we’ve made it a key priority to work closely with other jurisdictions before, during, and after times of financial stress. We’ve strengthened communication with counterparts in other jurisdictions, such as the EU, UK, and India, to understand each other’s policies, clarify our intentions and expectations, and respond to crises.

And financial stability has also been a key focus of our efforts to build a healthy economic relationship with China. The Financial Working Group that Treasury launched and co-chairs with the People’s Bank of China is now enabling regular and durable communication. And last month, we exchanged letters with the PBOC that strengthen information sharing and will make it easier to coordinate in times of financial stress.

IV. Conclusion

I’ll end here today, having I hope given some indication of the breadth and depth of our recent and ongoing efforts.

Work to build and maintain a resilient financial system is never over. We’ll never be able to just declare victory. And successes can be hard to fully appreciate because they often entail having avoided counterfactuals. But that does not make them any less significant.

We saw less than two decades ago how a financial crisis can turn the lives of millions of Americans upside down. And we saw only a year and a half ago that a government that keeps its eye on the ball can protect American businesses and households from financial contagion and its impacts.

I could not believe more strongly that we must keep at it. A resilient financial system is critical to a strong economy. And strengthening it requires insisting on thoughtful regulation, including in the face of challenges from those who advocate to roll back policies and regulations.

It has been an honor to contribute to this ever-changing, ever-important project throughout my career and over the past three and half years as Treasury Secretary. I am proud of where we are today, even as we remain committed to the work ahead.

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WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning a former member of Haiti’s parliament, Prophane Victor, for his role in forming, supporting, and arming gangs and their members that have committed serious human rights abuse in Haiti. OFAC is also designating Luckson Elan, the current leader of the Gran Grif gang, for his involvement in serious human rights abuse related to gang activity in Haiti’s Artibonite department.  

“Victor and Elan, through their influence over or leadership of the gangs in Haiti, have sought to perpetuate the horrific violence and instability,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “Treasury remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to leverage human rights abuses, violence, and corruption to achieve their political aims.” 

Promoting accountability for gender-based violence is a top priority for the U.S. government. President Biden issued a Memorandum on Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in November 2022 that directs the U.S. government to strengthen our exercise of financial, diplomatic, and legal tools against this scourge. The UN Panel of Experts report on Haiti states that the “levels of violence and the depths of cruelty that gangs will go to in violating human rights are unprecedented, with regular indiscriminate attacks against the population and the obstruction of humanitarian assistance. Sexual and gender-based violence and rape in particular have become one of the most horrific expressions of violence over the past two years. Such violence and insecurity not only undermine the political transition, but also decimate the national economy and threaten the future of the country.” Today’s action targets one actor directly responsible for gender-based violence and one that has provided material support to gangs, including those that have engaged in gender-based violence as a regular practice of intimidation, control, and extortion. 

serious human rights abuse IN ARTIBONITE, Haiti

Prophane Victor is a former Haitian legislator who started arming young men in Petite Rivière, Artibonite to secure his control over the area and his election in 2016. Those men went on to form the Gran Grif gang, which is currently the largest gang in the Artibonite department and the main perpetrator of abuses, including sexual violence. Prophane Victor materially supported Gran Grif until at least 2020. Prophane Victor has also trafficked weapons to Haiti and is known to have relationships with and provided funds to other gangs throughout Haiti, including rivals of Gran Grif. Prophane Victor’s gang affiliations and material support to them contribute to the climate of terror as the gangs engage in an array of cruelty and violence, fight for control, and leave residents to pay the consequences. 

Luckson Elan is the current head of Gran Grif gang. Luckson Elan and other members of the Gran Grif gang are responsible for serious human rights abuse including kidnapping, murder, beating, and raping of women and children, as well as looting, destruction, extortion, hijacking, and stealing crops and livestock. The situation is especially devastating for his child victims who have been subjected to forced recruitment and sexual violence. 

OFAC is designating Prophane Victor pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818 for being a person who has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of an entity, including any government entity, that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse, where the activity is conducted by a foreign person.

OFAC is designating Luckson Elan pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse. OFAC also is designating Luckson Elan pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being or having been a leader or official of an entity, including any government entity, that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse relating to the leader’s or official’s tenure.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. U.S. persons may face civil or criminal penalties for violations of E.O. 13818. Non-U.S. persons are also prohibited from causing or conspiring to cause U.S. persons to wittingly or unwittingly violate U.S. sanctions, as well as engaging in conduct that evades U.S. sanctions. OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines provide more information regarding OFAC’s enforcement of U.S. sanctions, including the factors that OFAC generally considers when determining an appropriate response to an apparent violation.

Financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. 

The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. 

For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897 here. For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please click here.

GLOBAL MAGNITSKY

Building upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, E.O. 13818 was issued on December 20, 2017, in recognition that the prevalence of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, had reached such scope and gravity as to threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons.

Click here for more information on the individuals and entities designated today.

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The FTC took action against Instant Brands in 2023 charging that the company claimed that all its popular glass measuring cups were made in the United States, despite some measuring cups actually being imported from China. All told, more than 110,000 units of Chinese-made measuring cup sets were sold to U.S. consumers while being marketed as “Made in USA.” Instant Brands agreed to a settlement with the FTC that stopped the company from making deceptive claims about products being “Made in USA” and required them to pay a monetary judgment.

The FTC is sending checks to 10,259 consumers. Recipients should cash their checks within 90 days, as indicated on the check. Consumers who have questions about their payment should contact the refund administrator, Simpluris, at 833-244-7320, or visit the FTC website to view frequently asked questions about the refund process. The Commission never requires people to pay money or provide account information to get a refund.

The Commission’s interactive dashboards for refund data provide a state-by-state breakdown of refunds in FTC cases. In 2023, FTC actions led to $330 million in refunds to consumers across the country.

2:50 P.M. EDT

Q    Mr. President, did you — do you support Israel’s decision to try to kill Nasrallah?

THE PRESIDENT:  We’re still gathering information.  I can tell you the United States had no knowledge of or participation in the IDF action.  We’re ga- — we’re gathering more information.  I’ll have more to say when we have more information. 

Q    You say you support Israel’s decision —

THE PRESIDENT:  I — 

Q    — to defend itself.  Do you support what they did today with the strikes in Beirut?

THE PRESIDENT:  We have to get more detail.  I don’t know enough to answer that question.

Thank you.

Q    Are you worried about escalation?

Q    On U.S. Steel, sir.  On U.S. Steel.  The timeline has been pushed back three months.  Some are interpreting that that you might changing your mind about how you feel about that deal.  Do you have any comment about how you feel about that deal?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I don’t — I haven’t changed my mind.  (Inaudible.)

Q    Sir, how concerned are you about escalation right now in Lebanon?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m always concerned about that.  I’m always concerned about that.

Q    And your reading on the hurricane: How bad does it look down there right now?

THE PRESIDENT:  It looks bad.  At least 25 people dead.  There’s still rising waters.  We don’t have enough information yet.  There’s one dam in North Carolina that’s also in question.

2:51 P.M. EDT

WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned more than a dozen entities and vessels for their involvement in the shipment of Iranian crude oil and liquid petroleum gas to Syria and East Asia on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Hizballah. Among the vessels sanctioned today are four ships associated with the fleet of illicit shipping Syrian magnate Abdul Jalil Mallah (Abdul Jalil) and his brother Luay al-Mallah. Since Abdul Jalil’s June 10, 2021 designation for his support to the network of IRGC-QF-backed Houthi financial official Sa’id al-Jamal, Luay al-Mallah has continued to use their shipping empire to support Iran’s malign activities and those of its proxies. Luay al-Mallah is also being designated in this action.

“Iran continues to rely heavily on the illicit sale of oil and liquid petroleum gas by the IRGC-QF and Lebanese Hizballah to fund its terrorist proxies and destabilizing activities,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “Treasury remains committed to disrupting the networks of shippers, brokers, and buyers that facilitate these schemes.”

Today’s action is being taken pursuant to counterterrorism authority Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended. OFAC designated the IRGC-QF pursuant to E.O. 13224 on October 25, 2007, for providing material support to multiple terrorist groups. The U.S. Department of State designated Hizballah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group (SDGT) pursuant to E.O. 13224 on October 31, 2001.

HIzballah and IRGC-QF shipments

Marshall Islands-registered, People’s Republic of China (PRC)-based Star Ocean Shipmanage Ltd. is the ship manager, technical manager, and operator of the Panama-flagged vessel ETERNAL SUCCESS (IMO: 9307633), the Panama-flagged ETERNAL 8 (IMO: 9232448), and the Panama-flagged ETERNAL PEACE (IMO: 9259745). The IRGC-QF used the ETERNAL SUCCESS to facilitate illicit trade as recently as July 2024, manipulating its Automatic Identification System to disguise its movements while sailing toward East Asia, where it transferred its cargo to another tanker via a ship-to-ship transfer. Similar to its sister ship, the ETERNAL 8 has also been involved in transferring shipments for the IRGC-QF. 

Star Ocean Shipmanage Ltd. is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, the IRGC-QF. The ETERNAL SUCCESS, ETERNAL 8, and ETERNAL PEACE are being identified as property in which Star Ocean Shipmanage Ltd. has an interest. 

Marshall Islands-based Dragon Road Ltd is the registered owner of the Panama-flagged SERENE I (IMO: 9197832). As recently as summer 2024, the SERENE I loaded IRGC-QF-owned products in Iran on behalf of the U.S.-sanctioned, Lebanese Hizballah-affiliated, Lebanon-based company Concepto Screen SAL Offshore. Similarly, the Panama-flagged FENG TAI (IMO: 9248473) transported IRGC-QF-owned products, loaded in Iran, to the PRC on behalf of Concepto Screen SAL Offshore. Hong Kong-based Tai Feng Hai Shipping Limited is the registered owner of the FENG TAI.

Dragon Road Ltd and Tai Feng Hai Shipping Limited are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, the IRGC-QF. SERENE I and FENG TAI are being identified as property in which Dragon Road Ltd and Tai Feng Hai Shipping Limited have an interest, respectively. 

MALLAH SHIPPING NETWORK

Luay al-Mallah has assisted his brother, sanctioned Syrian shipping magnate Abdul Jalil Mallah, in running his family’s business following the latter’s designation for assisting the illicit shipping network of Sa’id al-Jamal, an IRGC-QF-backed Houthi financial official. The Mallah family’s ships, including the Panama-flagged CONFIDENCE P (IMO: 9178044), Sao Tome and Principe-flagged NOVA (IMO: 9141259), Panama-flagged RIVAL (IMO: 9117818), and Iran-flagged TIYARA (IMO: 9231224), have facilitated illicit trade between Syria and Iran for the benefit of the IRGC-QF and Hizballah.  As recently as 2021, Luay al-Mallah managed a shipment for Sa’id al-Jamal.  In 2021, Sa’id al-Jamal’s network used the NOVA and TIYARA to facilitate illicit trade between Iran and Syria. 

Luay al-Mallahowns the Abdul Jalil Mallah-directed, Türkiye-based Oryx Denizcilik Limited Sirketi. 

Luay al-Mallah is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Abdul Jalil Mallah. Oryx Denizcilik Limited Sirketi is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for being owned, controlled, or directed by, directly or indirectly, Luay al-Mallah. CONFIDENCE P, NOVA, RIVAL, and TIYARA are being identified as property in which Abdul Jalil Mallah has an interest.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS 

As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. U.S. persons may face civil or criminal penalties for violations of E.O. 13224, as amended. Non-U.S. persons are also prohibited from causing or conspiring to cause U.S. persons to wittingly or unwittingly violate U.S. sanctions, as well as engaging in conduct that evades U.S. sanctions. OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines provide more information regarding OFAC’s enforcement of U.S. sanctions, including the factors that OFAC generally considers when determining an appropriate response to an apparent violation.

Furthermore, engaging in certain transactions with the individuals designated today entails risk of secondary sanctions pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended. Pursuant to this authority, OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of an SDGT.

In addition, financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. 

View identifying information on the individuals and entities designated today.

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The FTC’s complaintalleges that Mr. Hess communicated publicly and privately with the past and current Secretaries General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and an official from Saudi Arabia. In these communications, Mr. Hess stressed the importance of oil market stability and inventory management and encouraged these officials to take actions on these issues and speak about them at different events, the complaint alleges.

Mr. Hess further encouraged his OPEC competitors to stabilize production and draw down inventories, the complaint alleges. As Mr. Hess has noted publicly, there is a direct correlation between inventory levels and oil prices. Reductions in crude oil exploration and production generally lead to higher oil prices and higher prices for products derived from oil, including transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, and heating oil.

“Mr. Hess’s communications with competitors about global oil output and other dimensions of crude oil market competition disqualify him from serving on Chevron’s Board of Directors,” said Henry Liu, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “The FTC will use all its available enforcement tools to protect competition in this vital market and help ensure American consumers benefit from lower prices at the pump.”

As detailed in the complaint, the merger agreement between Chevron and Hess Corporation requires Chevron to take all actions necessary to appoint Mr. Hess to its Board of Directors. The FTC’s complaint alleges that, as a Chevron Board member, Mr. Hess would gain a much larger platform to amplify his supportive messaging to OPEC and others about OPEC’s market stability goals, increasing the likelihood that Chevron could align its production with OPEC’s output decisions to maintain higher oil prices. The complaint alleges that, given his prior conduct, Mr. Hess’s appointment to Chevron’s Board of Directors would heighten the risk of harm to competition, including meaningfully increasing the risk of industry coordination.

The FTC’s proposed consent order would prohibit Chevron from nominating, designating, or appointing Mr. Hess to the Chevron Board, and from allowing Mr. Hess to serve in an advisory or consulting capacity to, or as a representative of, Chevron or the Chevron Board. The proposed consent order would allow Chevron to consult with Mr. Hess and allow him to serve as an advisor, consultant, or representative of Chevron, solely related to interactions and discussions with (a) Guyanese government officials about Hess’s oil-related and health ministry-related activities in Guyana, and (b) the Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative.

Further details about the order can be found in the analysis to aid public comment.

The Commission voted 3-2 to accept the consent agreement and place the complaint and order on the record for public comment. Chair Lina M. Khan issued a statement joined by Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Andrew N. Fergusoneach issued a dissenting statement.

The FTC will publish the consent agreement package in the Federal Register in the coming days. Instructions for filing comments appear in the published notice. Comments must be received 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. Once processed, comments will be posted on Regulations.gov.

NOTE: The Commission issues an administrative complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions.

The Federal Trade Commission is sending more than $2.8 million in refunds to consumers who were charged for purported “free trial” offers for personal care products and supplements.

According to the FTC’s 2018 complaint, Apex Capital Group, Phillip Peikos, David Barnett, and related entities marketed supposed “free trial” offers for personal care products and dietary supplements online, but instead billed consumers the full price for the products and enrolled them in negative option continuity plans without their consent. To further the scheme, the defendants used dozens of shell companies and straw owners in the United States and abroad to process consumers’ credit and debit card payments.

The Apex Capital defendants began the alleged online subscription scam in early 2014, and marketed and sold a variety of products to consumers before the court issued an order in November 2018 halting the scheme at the Commission’s request.

The FTC is sending 153,940 checks totaling more than $2.8 million to consumers who lost money as a result of Apex Capital’s scheme. Recipients should cash their checks within 90 days, as indicated on the check.

Consumers who have questions about their payment should contact the refund administrator, Analytics, at 844-541-3531 or visit the FTC’s website to view frequently asked questions about the refund process. The Commission never requires people to pay money or provide account information to get a refund.

The Commission’s interactive dashboards for refund data provide a state-by-state breakdown of refunds in FTC cases. In 2023, FTC actions led to $330 million in refunds to consumers across the country.

Opinion No 06/2024

CRD 2023-02

NPA 2023-02

Administration officials have been in contact with state and local officials before and during the storm and will continue to coordinate together during recovery efforts. At the President’s direction, FEMA Administrator Criswell is traveling to Florida this afternoon to assess the damage alongside other state and local officials. Administrator Criswell will also travel to Georgia and North Carolina in the coming days.

President Biden and Vice President Harris are praying for those who lost loved ones and for everyone impacted by this storm. Although the storm has weakened, the situation remains extremely dangerous, and the Administration continues to urge residents to heed the warnings of local officials and evacuate immediately if told to do so, as flooding and other hazards may still affect the region.

Consistent with the President’s direction for a robust and well-coordinated Federal response, the Administration has taken swift action to support Hurricane Helene preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Specific actions taken include:

Approved Emergency Declarations Before Landfall 

• Before Helene made landfall, the Governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina submitted emergency declaration requests that President Biden swiftly approved. These declarations authorized FEMA to provide assistance for emergency measures to save lives, protect property, public health and safety, and fund other emergency response measures. The Federal government proactively pre-positioned personnel and resources across the region before Hurricane Helene made landfall, including power restoration teams for temporary emergency power, search and rescue equipment, meals, water, generators, and equipment to assist communities and states with impacts from the storm.
• The Administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services, declared a Public Health Emergency for the states of Florida and Georgia. This gives the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) health care providers and suppliers greater flexibility in meeting emergency health needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Supporting Ongoing Emergency Response Efforts

• At the President’s direction, before Helene made landfall, 1,500 Federal personnel were deployed to the region.
• Urban Search and Rescue has deployed a total of 14 teams (940 personnel) to affected states. In Florida, eight teams are positioned to respond, and all are equipped with Swift Water Rescue Capabilities. In Georgia, two teams with water capability have been deployed to support rescue operations. In North Carolina, four teams all equipped with Swift Water Rescue Capabilities are in place. 
• The U.S. Coast Guard crews will continue to respond with vessels and aircraft to assist search and rescue activities. Approximately 8,000 personnel are working on the Coast Guard response. They will continue to respond to urgent distress calls to save lives and assist those impacted by the storm.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has two teams prepositioned to provide temporary emergency power, with additional personnel deployed and other are prepared to deploy if needed. In addition to temporary emergency power, personnel will assist the states with infrastructure assessments, debris management and temporary roofing assistance as needed. They have activated six emergency operation centers in the region to coordinate operations.
• The Department of Health and Human Services deployed two Health and Medical Task Forces to assist hospitals and other critical care facilities with any impacts as a result of the storm.
• FEMA’s Surge Capacity Force is activated, which enables the deployment of additional disaster staff within the Department of Homeland Security and across the Federal interagency to assist in the areas impacted by the hurricane.
• The Federal government pre-staged more than 2.7 million meals, 1.6 million liters of water, 50,000 tarps, 10,000 cots, and 20,000 blankets in the region to support sheltering needs in impacted communities.
• FEMA pre-positioned tanker trucks with 70,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 40,000 gallons of gasoline to surge to impacted communities once the storm has passed to help alleviate any fuel shortages.
• Prior to the storm, FEMA also helped source hundreds of ambulances to assist with the movement of any patients out of impacted hospitals or other facilities.

Supporting Communities and Infrastructure Following the Storm’s Impact

• The Department of Energy’s Energy Response Organization is activated and closely monitoring impacts and restoration efforts related to Helene, including power, fuel, and supply chain interruptions.  Via the Electricity Sub-Sector Coordinating Council, the Department also works continuously with electric utilities across the country to strengthen post-storm power restoration efforts.
• The Environmental Protection Agency is working closely with Federal, state, local, and Tribal partners to help protect water systems, prepare for debris management, and ensure facilities, including Superfund sites, maintain critical public health and environmental protections. EPA stands ready to mobilize additional staff after the storm passes and as clean up and recovery efforts begin. 
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made information available from the HHS emPOWER program, a partnership between the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to support public health emergency planning and response activities. The program provides valuable information on the number of Medicare beneficiaries who rely on electricity-dependent durable medical equipment and certain health care services, such as dialysis, oxygen tanks, or home health care, to help anticipate, plan for, and respond to the needs of at-risk residents in areas impacted by the storm. 
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) notified Public Housing Authorities, multifamily, and healthcare facility owners to implement all appropriate protocols to prepare for the storm and ensure the safety of their residents. HUD is and will continue to work with the Public Housing Authorities, multifamily, and healthcare owners and homelessness assistance partners to determine damage impact and resident displacement. HUD will also be developing vacancy lists of HUD-assisted projects that can be used to provide temporary and/or permanent housing to disaster survivors.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service approved Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ request to provide operational flexibilities in all of the state’s school lunch programs – which will enhance flexibilities for meal service during unanticipated school closures.
• The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aerial teams are being deployed to provide valuable observations of impacted communities to understand the scope of the storm damage and to support disaster response by Federal partners. To ensure navigational safety, NOAA experts work around-the-clock after a storm acquiring and processing data to speed the reopening of ports and waterways by verifying water depth and identifying dangers to navigation.
• Additional personnel from the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and Department of Health and Human Services are deployed to assist with response and recovery efforts.

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As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Annette, for the kind introduction. And let me thank the Global Carbon Market Utility, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM), and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative for hosting me and this event today.

Over the past three and a half years, the Biden-Harris Administration has pursued an aggressive climate agenda, and Treasury has been proud to play a leading role. We lead the implementation of the many tax provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which are driving a record level of private sector investment in clean energy. We published the Principles for Net-Zero Financing and Investment to support financial institutions in pursuing credible and consistent net-zero commitments. And we are working to identify and address climate-related financial risks.

What we know and what all of you know is that this challenge requires all of us—government, the private sector, nonprofit organizations, experts, and academics. The need for our collaboration is clear when we think about Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs).

VCMs have the potential to create both economic and climate opportunities by channeling private capital to high-impact and cost-effective climate projects across technologies, ecosystems, and geographies. But today’s markets face significant challenges that are holding back their growth.

That’s why in May, with partners across our government, we launched the Principles for Responsible Participation in Voluntary Carbon Markets. We hope that these Principles can bring us closer to achieving functioning, high-integrity VCMs that live up to both the economic and climate potential we all believe in. I’m grateful not only for those of you in this room who helped us form these Principles, but I’m also grateful for the work we’ve all done to make progress since their release.

The Principles emphasize the importance of supply integrity—the idea that credits should represent real emissions reductions or removals and avoid harm. In recent months, we’ve seen steps taken to improve supply integrity. For example, the IC-VCM has started applying its Core Carbon Principle approved label to several methodologies. And, the CFTC provided final guidance for listing voluntary carbon credits on exchanges. These approvals and regulatory guidance are technical steps. They may lack the luster of a splashy investment announcement. But they are the exact kinds of steps we have to take to achieve the ambitious goals we are aspiring to.

The Principles also emphasize demand integrity—the idea that companies should make every effort to reduce direct emissions within their own value chains and then pursue carbon credits to complement those efforts. We have been happy to see companies developing transition plans and pursuing other efforts, alongside considering participation in VCMs. Because while VCMs are crucial to our goals, they are not in themselves sufficient, especially in their nascent stage.

Lastly, the Principles emphasize market integrity—the need to improve a currently fragmented market with more transparency. Increasing transparency around pricing and transaction data would help buyers reduce their risk, developers better predict their revenues, and financiers develop new products. I’m glad that you’ll get to hear later today from Treasury Under Secretary Nellie Liang on these issues and how we can make progress.

There’s no question that we have much more work to do. We at Treasury look forward to continuing to work with counterparts across our government, civil society organizations, the private sector, and international partners—bilaterally, and through groups like APEC and the G20.

VCMs hold significant potential. But we can only realize their promise if we are willing to take steps to overcome their challenges. I have confidence we can meet the moment because of the creativity, talent, and leadership of those of you in this room.

Thank you again for having me here today; I look forward to being your partner in this work.

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Researchers, technologists, child development and legal experts, consumer advocates, and industry professionals will discuss design features that keep kids engaged on digital platforms, including websites, applications, and interactive online services. They also will discuss the potential impacts of those features on the well-being of younger users and how platforms might factor levels of youth engagement and kids’ well-being into designing their products. The topics to be discussed will include:

• Whether and how certain design features result in more engagement or time spent on digital platforms, and what relevant scientific research exists on the topic;
• The physical and psychological impacts, both positive and negative, of the design features on youth well-being; and
• What measures or design considerations related to youth well-being might be effective, feasible, and consistent with the current legal landscape.

The virtual event will be open to the public and registration is not required. A link to view the webcast will be posted to the FTC’s website at FTC.gov the morning of the event.

The FTC is seeking input from those who are interested in participating as panelists at the event or who have expertise and relevant information to provide on any of the topics listed above. If you have expertise, email AttentionEconomy@ftc.gov by November 15, 2024. At this time, please do not send substantive comments to the FTC email address listed above. Any formal comment period will be announced on the event page.

Additional information, including a list of speakers and the agenda, will be posted on theevent page in advance of the workshop.

The FTC’s 2012 order settled antitrust charges alleging that Coopharma harmed competition by negotiating, entering into, and implementing agreements among its member pharmacies to fix prices with insurers and PBMs. The FTC’s 2012 consent order, among several terms, prohibited Coopharma from entering into or facilitating agreements with pharmacies and prohibited Coopharma from facilitating information exchanges between pharmacies regarding contract terms with insurance payors.

In the petition, Coopharma has asked that the FTC either modify or rescind the order given changes in Puerto Rico’s law that have allowed for state oversight of health care provider cooperative negotiations with payors. Additionally, the petition states that given the increased dominance of PBMs and their ability to impose unfair contractual terms that harm independent pharmacies’ ability to compete, the 2012 order is unnecessary.

Coopharma, in its petition, states that the 2012 consent order has limited the ability of many independent pharmacies across Puerto Rico to obtain favorable contracting terms, leading to many pharmacies being forced out of business. The current order prevents Coopharma from negotiating lower costs for consumers with PBMs and prevents Coopharma from being able provide improved quality pharmacy services for residents of Puerto Rico, which can only be gained through equitable reimbursement and fair treatment under contracts with PBMs, the petition states. As the FTC recently recognized in its interim staff report on PBMs, PBMs often employ an arsenal of unfair tactics toward independent pharmacies, Coopharma said in its petition.

Coopharma’s petition further claims that the FTC’s decision to rescind prior guidance on PBMs, as well as state and federal investigation into PBM practices, also make the 2012 order unnecessary.

The FTC will publish Coopharma’s application in the Federal Register shortly. Instructions for filing comments appear in the published notice. Comments must be received 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. Once processed, they will be posted on Regulations.gov. After the comment period closes, the Commission will vote on whether to approve the application.

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Biologic drugs—which are composed of very large, complex molecules—treat serious medical conditions and are often one of the most expensive types of prescription medications. A biosimilar drug is like a generic drug in that it treats the same conditions as a reference biologic or brand-name drug with no clinically meaningful differences, including in safety and effectiveness.

Under the FDA draft guidance, the FDA is removing its prior recommendation that a biosimilar drug applicant must submit clinical switching studies to demonstrate that a biosimilar is interchangeable with the biologic reference drug. Instead, a biosimilar drug applicant may submit a statement to the FDA explaining why the existing data in a biologic license application would support the FDA’s designation of the drug as interchangeable. Once the FDA designates a biosimilar product as “interchangeable,” pharmacists can substitute that product for a biologic without prescriber intervention.

In its comment, the FTC supports FDA’s draft guidance, believing it will provide flexibility that may expedite the approval process and reduce the burden and cost of showing that switching a patient from a biologic to a biosimilar is safe and effective. The draft FDA guidance will also help combat marketplace confusion about the safety and efficacy of biosimilars, the FTC’s comment states. If implemented, the guidance would likely reduce barriers to entry and facilitate competition among biologic products by increasing the number of biosimilars designated as interchangeable.

According to the FTC, the draft FDA guidance is a step in the right direction to fully realizing the goals of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (BPCIA) to increase competition and innovation among biologics, which could lead to lower prices and increased choice for patients who depend on these life-saving medicines.

To ensure Americans receive increased access to interchangeable biosimilars, agencies must continue to monitor anticompetitive practices that, if left unchecked, could prevent patients from accessing biosimilars, the comment states. Contract terms that discourage generic drug insurance reimbursement, as revealed in the Commission’s Interim Staff Report on Pharmacy Benefit Managers, undermine goals of the BPCIA to increase competition and innovation among biologics, the comment states.

The Commission voted 5-0 to submit the comment to the FDA.

Proposed regulations would apply bonus credit to additional clean energy technologies for projects in low-income communities.   

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for 48E(h), the Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act. The program promotes cost-saving clean energy investments located in low-income communities, on Indian lands, within affordable housing, or directly benefitting low-income households.  

The proposed rules announced today mark a major step forward for the implementation of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, lowering costs for underserved communities and households and helping ensure that they share in the benefits of the growth of the clean energy economy.  

The 48E(h) Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program builds on the first-of-its-kind Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program, also known as 48(e). The transition from 48(e) to 48E(h) opens the program to additional clean energy technologies beyond wind and solar such as hydropower and geothermal. This expansion also coincides with Treasury’s efforts to make the benefits of the Clean Electricity Production Credit and Clean Electricity Investment Credit available to clean energy facilities with a greenhouse gas emissions rate of zero or less.  

“Incentives to develop clean power in communities that have been overlooked and left out for too long will drive investment and create opportunity, helping ensure that the growth of the clean energy economy benefits all Americans,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “The Biden-Harris Administration is continuing to prioritize lowering energy costs and strengthening our energy security, and today’s announcement represents a major step forward.”

“President Biden and Vice President Harris entered office three and a half years ago with a vision to make clean energy affordable and accessible to every American,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. “The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit is bringing that vision to life by incentivizing new investment in communities that have been left out and left behind. Today’s proposed rules from Treasury will expand the reach of this already impactful program.”  

“The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program is the most significant tax incentive in U.S. history to promote clean energy investments in low-income communities, on Tribal land, and within affordable housing,” said U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary David M. Turk. “By expanding the current program to include additional types of clean technologies, this game-changing policy is yet another example of how the Biden-Harris Administration is delivering a more equitable energy transition.”

The NPRM was designed to allow a wide range of taxpayers and geographies to access the 48E(h) program, prioritize financial benefits to low-income households, and ensure consistency with the statute and other guidance. Beginning in 2025, 1.8 gigawatts of Capacity Limitation will be available annually for allocation under the program, which will continue through the later of either the calendar year when certain greenhouse gas emissions reductions are met or 2032. The allocated credit provides a 10 or 20 percentage point boost for qualified non-combustion and gasification facilities under 5 megawatts on top of the 30% 48E Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit if prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements are also met. 

The NPRM issued today incorporates best practices learned from the successful implementation of the 48(e) program in 2023 and 2024, including maintaining much of the current program’s innovative Applicant Portal infrastructure. The portal created a paperless, user-friendly platform, making it easier for taxpayers to apply for the bonus credit.  

The NPRM proposes updated definitions to expand financial benefits delivery mechanisms to account for future technologies and ensure additional benefits flow to low-income subscribers. The NPRM also proposes to maintain a sub-reservation for certain residential facilities (such as behind-the-meter rooftop solar) and set-asides for Additional Selection Criteria for applications. The proposed Additional Selection Criteria provides that at least 50% of allocations in each category support projects owned by tax-exempt entities (such as state, local and Tribal governments and non-profits), worker cooperatives, Tribal enterprises, and projects that are located in communities that have high persistent poverty and high energy burdens.   

The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Justice and Equity will continue to partner with the IRS to manage the Applicant Portal and evaluate submitted applications.  

Today’s release of the NPRM marks a critical step of implementing the 48E(h) Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program for its 2025 program opening. Treasury invites comments during the 30-day comment period and will host a public hearing on October 17, 2024, and a Tribal consultation on September 27, 2024.   

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EASA mandates inspections of Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines

On February 2, 2024, the FTC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking noting several proposed amendments to improve the Energy Labeling Rule, including new energy labels for air cleaners and other consumer product categories. In addition to submitting written comments, the NPRM invited interested parties to request an opportunity to present oral data, views, and comments on the proposed amendments.

In response, 28 of the 29 commenters submitted written comments. Dyson was the only commenter to request an opportunity to present oral comments. Its comments will address concerns it has about Department of Energy test procedures for the proposed air cleaner labels.

The Commission vote approving publication of the notice was 5-0. It is now available in the Federal Register.

The lead staffer on this matter is Hong Park in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The plaintiffs in the case – Shanahan, et al. v. IXL Learning, Inc. – are parents of school age children who allege IXL Learning illegally collected, used and sold their children’s data on their website and software in school. The parents’ putative class action lawsuit alleges that the education company violated various laws, including the Federal Wiretap Act and multiple California statutes, as well as common law privacy torts.

IXL Learning, which provides websites and school educational services, filed a motion to compel arbitration, claiming that the school districts agreed to the company’s full terms of service, including an arbitration provision. IXL Learning argued that under COPPA, school districts act as agents for the parents in the use of IXL’s educational services, and the parents are therefore bound by the full terms of service.

The FTC amicus brief clarifies that nothing in COPPA or the COPPA Rule dictates that parents and children should be bound by every part of the terms of service agreement between a company like IXL Learning and a school district, nor does COPPA support a claim that parents should be bound to arbitration in this case.

In December 2023, the Commission proposed amendments to strengthen the COPPA Rule by further limiting companies’ ability to monetize children’s data. The proposed Rule would require targeted advertising to be off by default, bar indefinite retention of kids’ data, and strengthen data security. The Commission’s review of this Rule is ongoing.

The agency filed its amicus brief in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. 

The Commission voted 5-0 to file the amicus brief. Commissioner Andrew Ferguson issued a concurring statement.

Washington – Preliminary data from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2023 were released today and posted on the Treasury web site at (https://home.treasury.gov/data/treasury-international-capital-tic-system/tic-forms-instructions/us-claims-on-foreigners-from-holdings-of-foreign-securities). The final survey report, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the data, will be released on October 31, 2024.

The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 

A complementary survey measuring foreign holdings of U.S. securities also is conducted annually. Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2024, are currently being processed.  Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 28, 2025.

Overall Preliminary Results

The survey measured the value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2023 at approximately $15.3 trillion, with $11.5 trillion held in foreign equities, $3.4 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2022, measured the value of U.S. holdings at $14.0 trillion, with $10.3 trillion held in foreign equities, $3.3 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities, and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. 

Press Release for end of August

Table 1.  U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, as of survey dates

(Billions of dollars)

 Table 2.  U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities, by country of issuer and type of security, for the countries attracting the most U.S. portfolio investment, as of December 31, 2023

(Market value, billions of dollars, except as noted)

* Between zero and $500 million. (1) China excludes Hong Kong and Macau, which are reported separately.

With this approval, Nation has permitted 15 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity, as progress continues toward President Biden’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts by 2030

President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership has catalyzed the nation’s offshore wind industry which is creating good-paying and union jobs, establishing and growing new industries in the United States, providing reliable clean power for homes and businesses, strengthening Made in America supply chains, tackling the climate crisis, and helping lower costs for families.

The Biden-Harris Administration has built the offshore wind industry from the ground up. Right now, American workers across manufacturing, shipbuilding, construction, and other sectors are building this new industry. The Administration continues to use every tool available —including leveraging historic resources from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda — to seize near- and long-term offshore wind opportunities across America that will create new jobs for our communities.  

At the beginning of this Administration, there were no approved commercial-scale offshore wind projects in federal waters in the United States. Recognizing the urgency of catalyzing this industry to generate clean energy and combat climate change, President Biden set an ambitious goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind in the United States by 2030, while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing the 10^th approval of a commercial-scale offshore wind project. With this approval, the nation has now approved more than 15 gigawatts of offshore wind projects – enough to power 5.25 million homes, and equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve the 30 gigawatt goal.  

US Wind’s project offshore Maryland – approved today by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) – will provide up to 2,200 megawatts of clean, reliable renewable energy for the Delmarva Peninsula and power up to 770,000 homes. The development and construction phases of the project are estimated to support up to an estimated 2,679 jobs annually over seven years.

Overall, successfully deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind will help power 10 million homes with clean energy, support 77,000 jobs, avoid 78 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, and spur $12 billion per year in private investment in offshore wind projects.

Today’s announcement builds on significant progress that the Biden-Harris Administration has made to accelerate project reviews while protecting communities and our environment. Recent data demonstrates that the Biden-Harris Administration is delivering more projects, more quickly than the previous Administration.

Today’s milestones build on the Administration’s progress to grow our nation’s offshore wind industry, including:

Advancing Offshore Wind off Every Coast

Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, the Department of the Interior has held five offshore wind lease auctions providing more than 1.3 million new acres for development – including a record-breaking sale offshore New York and New Jersey that generated more than $4 billion in winning bids. The Department of the Interior also held first-ever sales offshore the Pacific and Gulf Coasts; held the first sale in the Central Atlantic region in a decade; and announced the first-ever sales offshore Oregon and in the Gulf of Maine. Earlier this year, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a new five-year offshore wind leasing schedule that aims to hold up to 12 potential offshore wind sales through 2028, including potential first-ever sales in HawaiˋI and a U.S. Territory. Because of the Administration’s progress on permitting the nation’s first offshore wind projects and leasing new areas, the total U.S. offshore wind project pipeline now exceeds 80 gigawatts, enough to power more than 26 million homes if fully developed.

Investing in Workers and Communities 

The Administration is advancing offshore wind development in a way that will maximize benefits for local communities and create good-paying jobs for American workers, including by harnessing a range of clean energy tax credits from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda and federal financing programs across the Departments of Energy, the Interior, Commerce, and Transportation. The Department of the Interior has also introduced innovative provisions in lease sales supporting workforce training and union-built projects, domestic supply chain development, and community benefit agreements —including with Tribes and stakeholder groups. The Energy Department has charted a path to grow and train an American workforce to fill tens of thousands of jobs across the offshore wind industry. The Administration’s Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership is working to strengthen regional collaboration on offshore wind supply chain development, to unlock more American job opportunities. With these efforts driving progress, offshore wind investments announced during the Biden-Harris Administration now include more than $6.9 billion across 19 manufacturing facilities and 15 ports, as well as 25 new offshore wind vessels being built in 8 different states, totaling thousands of new jobs.

Accelerating Offshore Wind Permitting

Today’s tenth offshore wind project approval, reflecting collaboration across federal agencies, is part of comprehensive Administration efforts to improve the federal permitting process, including: investing over $1 billion through Inflation Reduction Act funds to hire experts and invest in new technologies to expedite reviews; passing the first reforms to modernize the National Environmental Policy Act for the first time in 50 years; and using executive authorities, wherever possible, to improve permitting and environmental review processes. Earlier this year, the Department of the Interior finalized a rule that is expected to save offshore wind developers about $1.9 billion over 20 years by modernizing regulations for offshore renewable energy development. The Department of the Interior is also developing programmatic environmental impact statements for the New York Bight and California offshore wind lease areas to create efficiencies for individual project reviews. Additionally, BOEM and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a joint strategy to protect and promote the recovery of endangered North Atlantic right whales while responsibly developing offshore wind energy. These agencies are also deploying Inflation Reduction Act funding and working with industry and environmental stakeholders to advance whale detection and monitoring technologies.

Strengthening Transmission and Port Infrastructure for Offshore Wind

The Departments of the Interior and Energy released An Action Plan for Offshore Wind Transmission Development in the U.S. Atlantic Region, a set of bold actions that will catalyze grid upgrades to boost offshore wind energy, strengthen the domestic supply chain, and create good-paying, union jobs. Similar efforts are underway along the West and Gulf coasts. These efforts are funded from the Inflation Reduction Act for offshore wind and interregional transmission analyses and convenings. This summer, the Department of Energy announced federal transmission investments that will help connect 4,800 megawatts of offshore wind to the New England grid and provide economic development grants to several communities that will host offshore wind transmission infrastructure. To help build out the port capacity needed for offshore wind manufacturing and project construction, the Department of Transportation has awarded more than $675 million in grants for East Coast and West Coast ports to support offshore wind activities.

Advancing Floating Offshore Wind Innovation and Deployment

Deep-water areas that require floating platforms are home to two-thirds of America’s offshore wind energy potential, including along the West Coast and in the Gulf of Maine. To seize these opportunities, the Department of the Interior set a goal to deploy 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035—enough to power over five million American homes. And the Administration launched an interagency Floating Offshore Wind Shot, which seeks to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by more than 70 percent by 2035. The Departments of Energy, the Interior, Commerce, and Transportation have already achieved over 50 milestones and dedicated over $950 million to advance the Floating Offshore Wind Shot and American competitiveness on floating offshore wind turbine design, development, and manufacturing. Last month, the Department of the Interior announced the execution of the nation’s first floating offshore wind energy research lease offshore Maine.

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In a federal court complaint, the FTC alleges that Care’s marketing messages about both the number of jobs available on their site and the amount workers could expect to be paid were deceptive.

Care has agreed to a settlement that will require it to turn over $8.5 million to be used to refund consumers harmed by their practices, as well as requiring the company to be able to back up the earnings claims it makes and be honest about the number of jobs available on their site.

“Care.com used inflated job numbers and baseless earnings claims to lure caregivers onto its platform, and used deceptive design practices to trap consumers in subscriptions,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection “The order announced today puts a stop to these unlawful practices, returns millions of dollars to consumers, and helps ensure an honest marketplace for families looking for care and caregivers looking for work.”

Care provides an online platform where people looking to hire workers for jobs like child and older adult care, care for people with special needs, and pet sitting can post jobs and where people looking for such work can contact potential employers. In order to contact job posters or job seekers, users are required to purchase an auto-renewing paid subscription.

Misleading Messages

According to the complaint, Care’s deceptive advertising entices consumers to buy subscriptions in order to apply for jobs. The deception has taken on two forms – vastly overstating the number of jobs available on the platform and making unsubstantiated claims about how much consumers could expect to earn through these jobs.

Care’s advertising frequently has included the number of jobs available on its platform—a number that is deceptively inflated by including jobs for which there is little to no chance a job seeker could be hired. Since at least 2019, Care has advertised millions of these jobs in an effort to entice care providers to pay for subscriptions to its platform, according to the complaint.

Care’s platform allows those looking for workers to join the site for free. When they answer a questionnaire, Care creates a job listing on its platform, but the only way for a job poster to see a worker’s job application is if both people have paid memberships; if the poster hasn’t purchased a paid membership, then there is no way they can hire someone who applies for their job. The lawsuit points to numerous complaints from consumers who expressed frustration at the number of jobs they applied for without hearing anything back.

In addition to the inflated job claims, the complaint also charges that Care deceived users about how much money consumers can earn when they get a job on the platform. In advertisements and landing pages, Care has touted hourly as well as weekly earnings totals that are designed to entice consumers into paying for subscriptions despite having little to no data to back up such earnings claims, according to the complaint.

The complaint cites one 2021 Care ad campaign on a third-party site saying “Childcare jobs from $18/hr,” while at the same time saying on its own website that, “On average, the national pay rate for babysitting jobs” and “The average rate for babysitters on Care.com” was between $13 and $14.25 per hour.

According to the complaint, Care has not actually tracked earnings for jobs found on its platform and has little to no credible information to back up its earning claims in its advertising and marketing. Care’s claims about earnings for specific types of work are based on an average of those specific types of jobs listed on its site, and Care does not track or know the actual pay rates negotiated between job seekers and job posters after they make contact off the site.

According to the complaint, Care continued these deceptive earnings claims even after receiving a Notice of Penalty Offenses related to earnings claims from the FTC in 2021.

Cancellation Interference

The complaint also alleges that Care has used a number of unlawful tactics, sometimes referred to as dark patterns, to prevent consumers – both job posters and job seekers – from being able to cancel their subscriptions.

When consumers try to cancel Care subscriptions, they must click through a number of unrelated links to find information about how to cancel. According to the lawsuit, consumers regularly complained about difficulties in finding the cancellation options, with many resorting to searching online for instructions on how to cancel.

Once consumers find their way to the cancellation “flow” for their paid subscription, they face multiple steps designed to impede them from successfully cancelling. In some cases, consumers run into multi-page questionnaires, confusing language, warnings about the effects of cancellation, and offers to buy other paid memberships before finally being able to successfully cancel. Care makes it much more difficult to cancel a paid subscription than a free subscription, which is a relatively simple two-step process, according to the complaint.

Settlement Requirements

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Care will be required to:

• Turn over $8.5 million to the FTC to be used to provide refunds to consumers harmed by Care’s unlawful practices.
• Only make earnings claims that are true and that Care has evidence to back up.
• Only make claims about the number of jobs available on the site that are posted by users who can actually hire a potential worker.
• Be upfront with consumers about how communication on the site works before taking consumers’ money.
• Provide users with a simple cancellation method for any negative option subscriptions available on the site.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and stipulated order was 5-0. The FTC filed the complaint and stipulated order in the U.S. District Courtfor the Western District of Texas.Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter issued a statement.

NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest. Stipulated final orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

The staff attorneys on this matter are Edward Hynes and Erica Hilliard of the FTC’s Southwest Region.

Small businesses have created over 70 percent of net new jobs since 2019, and the United States is averaging 430,000 new business applications per month in 2024, 50 percent more than in 2019

Through programs like the State Small Business Credit Initiative and Emergency Capital Investment Program, the Biden-Harris Administration has made access to capital a top priority

WASHINGTON- Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury published a new analysis on small business and entrepreneurship in the post-COVID economic expansion. The analysis shows that entrepreneurship has surged during the Biden-Harris Administration, and that the role of small business in our economy and labor markets is poised to grow further. Important headwinds remain, but given the recent progress, it is important to recognize the central role small businesses play in the U.S. economy.

“President Biden and I know that small businesses are the backbone of our communities,” said Vice President Kamala Harris. “Thanks to our Administration’s historic investments in the success and growth of small businesses, there have been a record breaking 19 million new small business applications since President Biden and I took office — including in overlooked and underserved communities. As I’ve traveled the country, I’ve had the privilege to meet so many of the inspiring entrepreneurs and workers who power these businesses. I will never stop fighting to ensure they have the resources, support, and opportunity to not only survive, but thrive.”

“Small businesses and hard-working entrepreneurs are at the core of the American economy and supporting them has been a central priority of President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Yellen from their first day in office,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said. “This report underscores the historically fast and broad growth of small businesses during the Biden-Harris Administration, with 19 million new businesses started on our watch. This outcome was not an accident – at Treasury and across the Administration we’ve put in place programs like the State Small Business Credit Initiative and Emergency Capital Investment Program that have played a key role in providing funding for entrepreneurs starting or growing businesses, hiring workers, and innovating and manufacturing in communities across America. Each one of these new small businesses represents a vote of confidence in the future of the American economy. Our Administration’s mission is to make sure they have every opportunity they need to grow and thrive.”

Under Secretary Yellen’s leadership, Treasury created the Office of Capital Access to focus on getting small businesses the money they need to invest in their dreams. Through this office’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), we allocate billions to states, territories, and Tribal governments, including $3 billion going towards equity and venture funding, which is often the hardest type of funding for small businesses to get. For example, in March, Vice President Kamala Harris, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced North Carolina’s award of $32 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to 10 venture capital firms under SSBCI. One recipient, Nex Cubed, has a HBCU Founders Fund that helps to launch and scale entrepreneurial endeavors led by alumni, students, and faculty from HBCUs, and places an initial investment of $120,000 in selected start-ups. Another recipient, LeVert Ventures, invests in precision agriculture, crop protection, and indoor agriculture, supporting economic growth for rural communities.

Key conclusions from the analysis:

• Small businesses created over 70 percent of net new jobs since 2019. In the previous business cycle, small businesses created 64 percent of net new jobs.
• Small business optimism is rebounding as inflation falls. Multiple measures of business optimism show substantial increases in recent months. More than 70 percent of small business leaders expect revenues to grow over the next year, the most since the pandemic. 
• Entrepreneurship continues to surge: the United States is averaging 430,000 new business applications per month in 2024, 50 percent more than in 2019. The subset of applications for businesses most likely to hire employees has also risen to 140,000 per month, 30 percent more than in 2019. 
• Entrepreneurs are also growing more diverse: forty-three percent of self-employed Americans are female, more than ever before. Black, Asian, and Hispanic shares of self-employed Americans are also near all-time highs. Opportunity in this expansion is applying more broadly than before.

Beyond SSBCI, Treasury’s Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP) is allowing mission-driven community lenders to increase lending to small businesses. In 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary Yellen announced over $8.5 billion for these financial institutions, and in just 18 months, ECIP participants have originated a total of over $58 billion in loans, more than a third of which went to the most underserved borrowers and places. In 2022, Vice President Harris also announced the creation of the Economic Opportunity Coalition, a public-private partnership with some of America’s leading companies as members and with bipartisan support.  The Economic Opportunity Coalition set a goal of member companies depositing $3 billion into community lenders, which will allow many of the institutions for received ECIP funding to lend more with greater access to deposits and liquidity.

The implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are channeling public capital and encouraging more private investment in economically disadvantaged communities that larger corporations may overlook. The SBA is guaranteeing more small-dollar 7(a) loans to help the smallest businesses, while the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized a new rule to make small business lending more transparent. Finally, the Administration’s pro-competition agenda is explicitly pro-small business, including by banning the noncompete agreements that reduce labor market dynamism and new business formation.

Full text of the analysis is available here.

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Finer met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss U.S. support for Ukraine’s military, energy system, and economy, among other areas, and to consult on Ukraine’s strategy in its fight against Russian aggression. Finer expressed condolences on behalf of the United States for the casualties caused by Russia’s recent missile attacks and emphasized the President’s steadfast commitment to stand with Ukraine until they prevail in this war. 

Finer met with Andriy Yermak, the head of the Presidential Office, and Ukrainian military officials to discuss the state of Ukraine’s operations across the front lines. Finer briefed the Ukrainian officials on the ongoing provision of U.S. security assistance to help Ukraine defend itself.

Finer joined Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and senior officials from across the Ukrainian government, including regional representatives from Kharkiv and other regions in Ukraine in a conversation to review Ukraine’s energy security. Finer received updates on Ukraine’s recovery efforts following recent Russian strikes and discussed U.S. assistance to help Ukraine repair its energy system. Additionally, Finer visited a critical energy site in Ukraine to see first-hand the efforts underway to harden these sites ahead of the winter. 

Finer participated in-person in Ukraine’s conference on food security as part of the peace formula process, which representatives from more than 75 countries attended virtually. In his remarks at the conference, Finer emphasized U.S. support for Ukraine’s pursuit of a just and lasting peace to end this war. 

Finer also met with First Deputy Prime Minisyer Yuliia Svyrydenko to discuss U.S. sanctions against Russia and with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to review Ukraine’s efforts to rally global opposition to Russia’s war of aggression. 

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The FTC first took action against Lanier Law in 2014 as part of a joint law enforcement sweep by federal and state authorities. In 2016, as a result of the lawsuit, the defendants were banned from the debt relief business and one of the scheme’s owners, Michael W. Lanier, was disbarred.

The FTC is sending checks to 322 consumers. Recipients should cash their checks within 90 days, as indicated on the check. Consumers who have questions about their payment should contact the refund administrator, Analytics, at 866-590-8211, or visit the FTC website to view frequently asked questions about the refund process. The Commission never requires people to pay money or provide account information to get a refund.

The Commission’s interactive dashboards for refund data provide a state-by-state breakdown of refunds in FTC cases. In 2023, FTC actions led to $324 million in refunds to consumers across the country.