Hire price-fixing by laptop algorithms and holding actual property from getting used for cash laundering by way of shell firms are two points that Scott Turner, the previous skilled soccer participant picked to steer the Division of Housing and City Improvement, will probably face at this committee affirmation listening to Thursday.
In a lengthy 13-page letter to Turner on Sunday obtained by HuffPost, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the highest Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, laid out a number of areas she desires to listen to extra about when Turner seems earlier than her committee for his affirmation listening to.
In her letter, Warren stated there was “little within the public report” about Turner’s housing coverage views and Turner ought to present up ready to reply her questions.
Turner performed seven seasons within the NFL by way of the 2003 season as a cornerback after taking part in collegiately on the College of Illinois. Later he served within the Texas state legislature. Whereas his choose by President-elect Donald Trump was reportedly a surprise to many housing experts, he was the chief director of a White Home interagency council within the first Trump administration tasked with overseeing Alternative Zones, areas focused for financial growth by way of tax breaks.
In her letter, Warren requested for Turner’s views on rental price-fixing, citing the continuing case in opposition to RealPage Inc., an organization whose software program the Department of Justice has alleged has been used by landlords to illegally set rental prices in violation of antitrust legislation. RealPage is preventing the case in courtroom.
“Value fixing and different types of collusion are unlawful underneath antitrust legislation. Nonetheless, firms like RealPage are allegedly enabling landlords to collude to lift rents utilizing price-setting algorithms and private knowledge. What steps do you assume HUD ought to take to deal with algorithmic worth fixing within the housing market?” Warren requested within the letter.
In one other part, Warren cited reward of Turner by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who stated Turner would monitor funding in U.S. actual property by overseas “hostile actors.”
“Do you agree that it is very important keep the bipartisan Company
Transparency Act’s useful possession reporting necessities, which Congress concluded have been essential to cracking down on malign actors searching for to hide their possession of entities in america to facilitate illicit exercise like cash laundering, the financing of terrorism, monetary fraud, and acts of overseas corruption harming the nationwide safety pursuits of america?” Warren requested.
The Corporate Transparency Act was handed in 2021 and requires the possession of shell firms be disclosed to the federal government as a means to assist crack down on cash laundering, tax fraud and different illicit actions.
The legislation’s constitutionality has been challenged in federal courtroom and reporting is at present solely voluntary after a Texas district courtroom issued a nationwide injunction.
The legislation has drawn ire from conservatives. Within the Treasury Division part of Project 2025, a policy briefing book put together by the Heritage Foundation as a information to incoming Trump administration officers, the authors wrote, “Congress ought to repeal the Company Transparency Act, and [the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] ought to withdraw its poorly written and overbroad useful possession reporting rule.”
