Operation Choke Point

A new bill (H.R.4986) is makign it’s way through congress that would end the practice by the Justice Department called “Operation Choke Point”.  The Justice Department used the Finaicial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 to target businesses that it deemed to be violating the law by forcing payment processors to stop processing their payments.

As a result legitimate businesses that accept credit card payments find themselves no longer to accept payments from their customers.  These businesses were targeted without due process.  They were never notified by the Justice Department that they’ve violated any laws and hence were never givent he chance to defend themselves in a court of law.

To address this problem H.R.4986 was introduced in Congress.  It is called “end Operation Choke Point Act of 2014.  This act amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the Federal Credit Union Act, the USA PATRIOT Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.  The act would prohibit financial institutions from denying payment processing services to legitimate businesses and requires the Attorney General to obtain a court order before attempting to prohibit any business form getting their payments processed. 

Sources:
Finaicial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989
H.R.4986 End of Operation Choke Point Act of 2014

By Jack Rivers