On January 6, Minnesota Attorney General (AG) Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota nonprofit corporation Act for Cause (AFC) and its president, Rajesh Mehta. While the stated mission of AFC was to help needy individuals with securing employment and housing, the lawsuit alleges that Mehta used the charity for various self-dealing purposes.
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.
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.
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.
Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton has launched another challenge to the electronic health record (EHR) industry, filing suit against Epic Systems Corporation. At its core, the lawsuit accuses Epic of transforming patient medical records into a private gatekeeping tool — one that allegedly blocks competition, restricts lawful access to data, and undermines parental rights under Texas law.
We recently covered this case here, in which a small manufacturer and retailer sued the Virginia attorney general (AG) and tax commissioner in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, seeking to enjoin enforcement of the vapor product directory law. See Nova Distro, Inc., et al. v. Miyares et al., No. 3:25-cv-857 (E.D.V.A.). There, we also noted another ongoing case challenging a similar law in North Carolina, for which oral argument is scheduled before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on January 29, 2026. See Vapor Technology Association, et al. v. Wooten et al., No. 25-1745 (4th Cir.).
Washington Attorney General (AG) Nick Brown announced a settlement with Central Washington Health Services Association, doing business as Confluence Health, over its handling of charity care refunds. The AG alleges that since 2021, thousands of low-income patients at Confluence’s two hospitals made payments toward their hospital bills and were later approved for charity care under Washington’s Charity Care Act, but did not receive refunds of those payments. The act, which was expanded in 2022, requires most Washington hospitals to provide free or discounted care to patients with household incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level.