Attorney General Jennifer Davenport joined a coalition of 23 states and DC in suing the Trump Administration over policy changes by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) that would allow broad sharing of TANF recipients' sensitive personal data with other federal agencies, including ICE. The lawsuit argues the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause, and seeks to block its implementation.
The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring ACF's policy illegal and preventing it from being implemented.
In-house legal teams should review any contracts or agreements with federal agencies, particularly those involving the sharing of sensitive personal data such as TANF recipient information. They should ensure that data sharing clauses are narrowly tailored, include restrictions on secondary use, and comply with applicable federal laws like PRWORA. Additionally, contracts should include robust confidentiality and data minimization provisions, and clearly define permissible data uses to prevent unauthorized sharing with other agencies such as ICE.
Entity
Administration for Children and Families
Industry
OtherOfficial Press Release
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-sues-trump-administration-protect-vulnerable-new-yorkers
2026 0803 New York v ACF Complaint Filed
https://www.njoag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2026-0803_New-York-v-ACF-Complaint-Filed.pdf
New York Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://ag.ny.gov/press-releases
"the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a notice"
"violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution"
"TANF recipients’ Social Security numbers, addresses, immigration status, and other sensitive personal data would be illegally shared across the federal government"
"joined a coalition of 23 other states and the District of Columbia"
Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia in suing the Trump administration over policy changes by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) that would allow broad sharing of TANF recipients' sensitive personal data across federal agencies and potentially private organizations. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause, seeking to block the policy.
$352K
New York Attorney General Letitia James settled with Brooklyn High Rise LLC for illegally denying housing to prospective tenants based on housing court records, a practice known as tenant blacklisting. The company also charged non-refundable 'good faith' deposits. Brooklyn High Rise will pay $352,250 in penalties and restitution and must end its unlawful tenant screening practices.
New York Attorney General Letitia James issued an industry alert urging workers with knowledge of unsafe or illegal conduct in AI development to file confidential complaints through the OAG's secure whistleblower portal. The alert cites the OAG's monitoring of cybersecurity, economic, and other safety risks from emerging AI, and highlights the RAISE Act (effective January 1, 2027), which will require large AI developers to publicly disclose safety measures and report security incidents, as well as the SHIELD Act's data security requirements. No company was named, charged, or penalized; the alert signals impending OAG enforcement authority over AI developers.
$700.0M
New York Attorney General Letitia James, leading a bipartisan coalition of 39 other states, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii's Office of Consumer Protection, secured a $700 million settlement from Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC), a subprime auto lender, resolving allegations of deceptive and abusive lending. The lawsuit alleged CAC pushed tens of thousands of consumers into unaffordable loans with average interest rates above 38 percent, bundled with expensive add-on products consumers were told were mandatory or never told about, causing widespread defaults and vehicle repossessions. Note: this is a consumer-lending enforcement action rather than a privacy matter, so no privacy violation categories from the taxonomy apply.
$700K
New York Attorney General Letitia James secured a settlement with two Mt. Kisco car dealerships, DARCARS Lexus and DARCARS BMW, that deceptively charged a two percent 'sales commission' fee that was optional, provided no consumer benefit, and was never paid to the salesperson, and that misleadingly bundled a low-value aftermarket product ('DARCARS Assurance') into sales and lease agreements as if it were mandatory. The dealerships will pay more than $1.17 million in consumer refunds (with potentially millions more through a claims process) plus $700,000 in penalties. They must clearly disclose all future fees and add-ons, are banned from selling DARCARS Assurance or similar junk bundles at any New York dealership, and must conduct annual fair-business-practices training for all employees.
New York Attorney General Letitia James led a bipartisan coalition of 17 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to Congress opposing the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, warning that the bill would preempt state attorneys general authority to combat cryptocurrency fraud and scams. This is a legislative advocacy action, not an enforcement action against any company, and no penalties or remedies were imposed. The coalition urged Congress to preserve state enforcement power over both tokenized and non-tokenized securities and state crypto registration regimes.