How Biden’s Former Consumer Protection Chief Is Picking Up The Torch In New York

President Donald Trump has taken apart the Biden administration’s consumer protection agenda.

Now one of its architects is trying to revive the fight — from New York City.

As the new leader of the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Sam Levine is taking on a key element of Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “affordability” platform. So far, that has included going after tow truck operators accused of illegally towing cars, cracking down on deceptive claims of free tax preparation, and auditing companies for compliance with labor laws.

Those efforts echo initiatives he headed at the Federal Trade Commission as director of its Bureau of Consumer Protection, where he landed the agency’s largest-ever kids’ privacy violation settlement and at least $500 million in judgments against junk fees.

Levine’s New York role doesn’t give him the same budget or national jurisdiction he had in Washington, but it offers a chance to make the case that cities can carry out the same type of aggressive enforcement usually reserved for states and the federal government. And the response from companies and voters could help shape efforts by Democrats across the country to campaign on affordability in this year’s midterm election.

During Levine’s time at the FTC, which spanned the first Trump era and Joe Biden’s presidency, Levine developed a reputation for resurfacing long-unused consumer protection laws and going after violations that prior administrations would have let slide, his former bosses and others who dealt with him told POLITICO. Among other things, that meant leading the agency to its first-ever order to ban facial recognition software and introducing rules to end subscription traps.

When he arrived at the FTC in 2016, “it wasn’t taking on the biggest challenge people were facing,” Levine said in an interview. “We changed that at the FTC. We started taking on much bigger targets, much bigger swings, bigger problems.”

“That’s exactly the kind of energy I want to bring to DCWP,” he added.

That approach, Levine acknowledged, has made enemies.

Tech leaders like Elon Musk, David Sacks and Marc Andreessen flocked to support the Trump campaign in 2024, criticizing the FTC’s consumer protection and antitrust actions as roadblocks to American innovation. Since Trump returned to the White House, he has shuttered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that Congress created after the Great Recession; issued an artificial intelligence “action plan” that led the FTC to drop a consent order against a company because it “unduly burdens AI innovation”; and reached an antitrust settlement with Live Nation that more than two dozen states argue comes “at the expense of consumers.”

In February, the delivery app company Relay announced it was leaving New York while under investigation from Levine’s agency for potential violations of workers’ rights to set maximum trip distances under city law.

“Relay has a distinct business model from other delivery apps and has determined it can no longer operate sustainably in New York City,” a spokesperson for Relay’s parent company Wonder told POLITICO in an email. “Wonder follows all applicable laws and is working closely with DCWP, delivery drivers, and driver advocates to ensure we continue putting couriers first.”

Levine’s critics argue that strict enforcement could make New York less affordable, as penalties and labor laws could result in companies passing the costs onto their customers.

After his agency released a report in January accusing delivery app companies of making it harder for people to tip workers and costing workers an estimated $550 million in pay, the company DoorDash responded by calling the findings “flat-out wrong.” The company, citing a 2022 DCWP report, claimed that the agency had suggested the exact tipping structure that Levine criticized.

“What’s really happening is the DCWP wants to pressure consumers to tip even more,” John Horton, DoorDash’s head of public policy for North America, said in a statement. “As we’ve said, forcing people to tip may as well be a tax.”

Sophie Ota, a spokesperson for DCWP, denied that the agency’s 2022 report suggested the tipping structure, and said it was described as a “worst-case scenario” of how companies could respond to New York’s law requiring minimum pay rates for delivery workers.

Mamdani isn’t backing down. At an event announcing a ban on hidden hotel fees in January, he called Levine a “champion of what it can look like to use the law as a tool for working people as opposed to a weapon against them.”

Law firms began to advise their clients in January to be ready for stronger consumer protection enforcement under Levine’s watch, both in New York and across the country.

While the city consumer protection department during prior administrations focused more on accomplishing its mission through information sessions and “Know Your Rights” education, legal experts who follow its work say they expect more enforcement from Levine. They said companies should take a forward-looking approach to compliance to stay off his radar.

“As we have already seen, Commissioner Levine will utilize the full range of DCWP’s enforcement authorities, including some previously underutilized authorities, and will likely be proactive in proposing new rules,” Brian Stansbury, a Biden administration veteran and partner at the Hunton law firm, said in an email.

Levine’s aggressive approach to consumer protection law is driven by his belief that the FTC had previously failed to do its job. He’s also been critical of the Trump administration’s handling of consumer protection, calling his former agency “asleep at the switch” during a press conference in January.

“I don’t think American consumers can count on the federal government to do anything to help with the affordability crisis we’re facing,” he told POLITICO.

The FTC and White House both disputed Levine’s criticism and defended the Trump administration’s track record on consumer protection.

“Just because the FTC has dropped disgruntled Democrats’ former pet projects does not mean that the agency has fallen asleep at the wheel,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told POLITICO in an emailed statement. “Under President Trump and Chairman [Andrew] Ferguson, the FTC has robustly defended American consumers from predatory and illegal business practices, including with landmark legal action against Ticketmaster, corporate landlords, and insurance companies.”

Ronald Urbach, a partner at the law firm Davis + Gilbert, said Levine’s efforts in New York could backfire if businesses make a successful case that these penalties are increasing costs.

“You need to move forward aggressively, but one should move forward in a way where ultimately you don’t burn up your goodwill and it comes back and you’re not able to accomplish all that you wanted to do,” Urbach said.

‘Inspiration’ for other cities?

As New York’s top cop on consumer protection, Levine wants to speed up the department’s investigations, which can take from months to years. He’s also looking to add 300 new staffers, including more data scientists and attorneys, to the agency’s 400-person staff to enforce new consumer and labor protection laws taking effect.

Former FTC Chair Lina Khan, who led the federal agency under Biden and co-chaired Mamdani’s transition team, called Levine the ideal candidate to boost consumer protection enforcement in the city.

“Too often, we’ve seen a national epidemic of enforcers and regulators both at the federal and state level sitting around with dormant authorities, failing to enforce the laws and use the tools that legislators have given them,” she told POLITICO.

Levine wants other states — and Democrats campaigning on affordability — to follow his lead. “I think we can be a model for the rest of the country,” he said. “We have to relentlessly be a champion for consumers and workers. If we continue that, the politics will follow.”

When he was wielding the FTC’s authority, states followed Levine on data privacy enforcement and surveillance pricing concerns. A city agency like DCWP doesn’t usually have national influence, but New York’s massive market puts a spotlight on Levine’s actions.

“I know that states and cities across the country are looking at what Commissioner Levine is doing as an inspiration for what they may pursue as well,” said Rohit Chopra, who was Levine’s boss at the FTC before becoming director of the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau.

After announcing the ban on hidden hotel fees in January, Levine noted that the prohibition doesn’t apply only to businesses in New York: If hotels in other countries or states advertise one price to New Yorkers online and charge them a different cost in person, they too would risk violating the rules.

“If you market in the city of New York, which if you’re going to do national marketing, you will be doing that, then you have to care about that,” Urbach said. “Then the question is going to be, is it the tail wagging the dog?”

For politicians campaigning on affordability, empowering regulators to enforce consumer protections is a key part of delivering on those promises, Levine said. Before he left the FTC last January, Levine published farewell remarks encouraging the agency’s staffers “not to give up on pursuing big things.”

“It’s incumbent now on cities and states to drive the affordability agenda,” he told POLITICO. “That’s exactly what we’re doing in New York City.”