New York Attorney General Letitia James led a 19-state coalition to secure a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from granting Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) unauthorized access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system and Americans’ sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers and bank account details. A prior temporary restraining order required immediate destruction of all records already obtained by DOGE and Musk. The lawsuit remains ongoing to permanently prevent unauthorized access to private consumer data.
Preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from allowing DOGE or Elon Musk to access the Treasury’s central payment system and Americans’ sensitive personal information while the lawsuit proceeds. A prior temporary restraining order required destruction of all copies of records already obtained by DOGE/Musk.
In-house legal teams should review all contracts with government agencies, vendors handling sensitive personal information (including Social Security numbers and bank account details), and entities with access to central payment systems to ensure robust access control provisions, explicit prohibitions on unauthorized data access, and mandatory data destruction clauses. Teams should also verify that contracts require compliance with court-ordered injunctions restricting data access and include audit rights to confirm only vetted, authorized personnel access sensitive data. Any clauses permitting broad government access to consumer data without explicit safeguards should be updated to align with this injunction’s restrictions.
Entity
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump Administration
Industry
OtherOfficial Press Release
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-stops-elon-musk-and-doge-accessing-americans-private
state of new york et al v donald trump opinion and order 202
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/court-filings/state-of-new-york-et-al-v-donald-trump-opinion-and-order-2025_0.pdf
New York Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://ag.ny.gov/press-releases
"Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)"
"Trump administration"
"unauthorized access to Americans’ private information"
"unauthorized access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system, and therefore to individual Americans’ and states’ sensitive information, including social security numbers and bank account information"
"February 21, 2025"
"New York Attorney General Letitia James"
The New York Attorney General issued a consumer alert and online guide about scams targeting service members and veterans, including phishing and credit-monitoring scams that may misuse personal information. The release provides steps for protecting information and reporting suspected scams; it does not announce an enforcement action or monetary penalty.
$10.0M
A March 2023 breach exposed personal and protected health information associated with more than 13.3 million people after attackers accessed company systems using an employee’s credentials. The Perry Johnson companies agreed to pay at least $300,000, with an additional $9.7 million in penalties due if they fail to meet the agreement, and to implement security, incident response, and health-data handling reforms.
New York Attorney General James and Governor Hochul announced guidance advising county executives and sheriffs that they must end agreements to house or detain people for federal civil immigration violations by November 25, 2026. The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act makes those agreements void and unenforceable after the deadline; no monetary penalty or specific enforcement order is announced.
New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a consumer alert warning federal student loan borrowers that consolidating loans after changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act may limit repayment options and forgiveness eligibility. This is consumer guidance, not a privacy enforcement action; the release announces no fine or enforcement remedy.
$500K
New York Attorney General Letitia James secured a settlement with Bloomberg L.P. after finding that Bloomberg News failed to clearly disclose subscription price increases and automatic renewals, provide required acknowledgments and renewal notices, and make cancellation sufficiently easy. Bloomberg must pay $500,000 in penalties, provide refunds to eligible subscribers, and improve its subscription disclosures and practices.
$220.0M
New York Attorney General Letitia James and a bipartisan coalition secured a $220 million settlement from General Motors LLC for selling drivers’ personal driving and location data to data brokers without adequate disclosure or consent. GM must limit the driving data it collects and implement privacy assessments and dealership oversight and training.