On December 23, 2025, the New York Attorney General (AG) announced a settlement with Monterey Finance (Monterey) of approximately $2.4 million in debt relief for 835 New York consumers and $175,000 in penalties. The AG alleged that Monterey disguised high-cost lease agreements as traditional consumer financing, causing consumers to pay more than the sticker price for goods and services they believed they were purchasing.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposed consent order with Illusory Systems Inc. (Illusory), a Utah-based blockchain infrastructure company that operates the Nomad Token Bridge. The settlement resolves the FTC’s allegations that Illusory failed to live up to its stated data security commitments, leading to a 2022 cyberattack in which hackers stole approximately $186 million in crypto assets from platform users. Under the proposed order, Illusory must return to consumers any recovered funds and implement enhanced information security measures.
On December 30, 2025, Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton announced a $1.25 million settlement with Hyatt Corporation (Hyatt). The settlement resolves a 2023 lawsuit alleging that Hyatt violated Texas consumer protection laws by requiring consumers to pay mandatory fees on top of advertised room rates. Under the agreement, Hyatt must clearly disclose any required fees added to a hotel room’s price, reinforcing Texas’s push for transparent online hotel pricing.
In this episode of Regulatory Oversight, host Stephen Piepgrass, who leads Troutman Pepper Locke’s Regulatory Investigation Strategy and Enforcement (RISE) practice, is joined by partner Lu Reyes for a deep dive into the national security and enforcement implications of predictive markets. The discussion centers on a headline‑grabbing Polymarket trade that appeared to anticipate former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s capture and yielded roughly $400,000 in profit, raising questions about insider trading and classified information leaks.
Key point: With a new governor taking office in New Jersey later this month, the fate of rules proposed last year to implement the New Jersey Data Privacy Act (NJDPA) will be decided by the incoming administration.
In this episode of Regulatory Oversight, host Ashley Taylor is joined by Colorado Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez and Troutman Pepper Locke Privacy + Cyber partner David Stauss for an in‑depth discussion of the Colorado AI Act — widely viewed as the nation’s first comprehensive legislative framework focused on high‑risk AI systems and algorithmic discrimination. Senator Rodriguez explains how Colorado’s work on consumer privacy laid the groundwork for AI regulation and walks through the origins, goals, and core provisions of the Act, including its emphasis on transparency, risk assessments, and protecting consumers in sectors such as employment, housing, health care, education, finance, and government services.
Last month, Ohio and nine other state attorneys general (collectively, the AGs) entered into an assurance of voluntary compliance (AV) with Menard Inc. d/b/a Menards, a Wisconsin-based home improvement retailer. The settlement resolved the AGs’ allegations concerning deceptive rebate advertising and price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Menards will pay $4.25 million to the multistate group, in addition to making several changes primarily related to the company’s rebate and advertising business practices.
On December 19, 2025, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable (FAIR) Business Practices Act. The FAIR Act, which was proposed by Attorney General (AG) Tish James, represents the first major update to the state’s primary consumer protection law in 45 years and significantly broadens the statute’s reach.
Trump v. Slaughter, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in December, likely will put an end to the era of independent federal regulatory agencies.
On December 11, 2025, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law two bills governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in advertising. The governor’s office described the bills as “first-in-the-nation legislation to protect consumers and boost AI transparency in the film industry.” Both bills unanimously passed through the New York Legislature.