WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren is demanding an explanation of how the National Credit Union Administration operated during an apparent two-week period without any board members, including whether the leadership gap delayed regulatory actions or payments to members of a failed credit union.
Warren (D-MA), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, sent an Oct. 7 letter to NCUA acting Inspector General Marta Erceg seeking answers by Oct. 21. The committee released the letter Oct. 8, saying the inquiry follows reports that all three board seats were vacant from Aug. 10 to Aug. 24.
The gap occurred between former Chairman Kyle Hauptman’s departure and the swearing-in of his successor, John Crews. NCUA confirmed that Crews took office Aug. 24 after receiving Senate confirmation Aug. 7. President Donald Trump designated him chairman. Hauptman exited to serve on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), having been sworn in on August 10.
Questions About Authority and Decisions
Warren asked Erceg to identify the statutory authority under which NCUA operated during the vacancy and explain who made operational, enforcement, supervisory and regulatory decisions.
She also requested an accounting of decisions made during that period, any actions delayed and any actions the agency could not legally take without a board.
Warren said other questions concern why 17 days elapsed between Crews’ confirmation and his swearing-in, and what efforts were made to maintain continuity of board leadership.
Warren’s inquiry follows earlier efforts to examine NCUA’s authority after Trump fired board members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka in April 2025, leaving Hauptman as the sole remaining member. Warren has characterized those firings as unlawful and questioned the agency’s ability to conduct business without a quorum.
As the CU Daily has reported, Harper and Otsuka are challenging their firings in court and awaiting a ruling.
Concern About Failed Credit Union’s Members
The letter specifically raises questions about African Diaspora Federal Credit Union, a de novo CU that NCUA moved to liquidate Aug. 6, four days before Hauptman’s departure.
Warren asked whether its insured depositors had been made whole and whether the board vacancy constrained or delayed staff members’ ability to make timely insurance payments. Her letter raises those possibilities without establishing that payments or other agency actions were delayed.
According to the committee’s announcement, Warren warned that interruptions in NCUA’s responsibilities — overseeing credit union safety and soundness, enforcing consumer protection and fair lending laws, and insuring members’ deposits — could harm consumers, small businesses and communities that depend on credit unions.
What New Chair is Saying
Separately, the CU Daily had exclusive coverage of new NCUA Chair John Crews’ comments to the MAXX Conference this week here.
