The secretary replaces Rohit Chopra, who had aggressively sought to expand the bureau’s authority over banks and other financial firms.

In an email sent from acting director Scott Bessent, employees were told to pause all work related to issuing rules, enforcing regulations on rules that are not yet effective but approved, conducting investigations, and providing communications to the public, according to The Washington Post.

Staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were instructed by email to cease much of their work. Bessent, a wealthy Wall Street investor, replaces Rohit Chopra, who was fired on Saturday.

In a letter to the Treasury secretary, the Democratic senator warned against meddling with a system that processes trillions of dollars of transactions.

The Treasury Department was accused of breaking federal law by giving Elon Musk’s team of government efficiency enforcers access to a trove of personal and financial information — setting up a legal showdown over the Trump administration’s signature effort to shrink the government.