- DOJ probes Visa Plaid’s acquisition
- DOJ cites probe as being necessary for transparency
The Department of Justice (DOJ) in the United States of America has begun to probe Visa’s acquisition of Plaid, a fintech company.
The DOJ announced its probe of the acquisition through a public statement it released after it had filed a legal petition against the consulting company, Bain & Company. The petition demanded the company release pertinent information and documents related to the purchase of the fintech company by Visa.
The DOJ went on to say that filing the petition in a law court became necessary because Bain refused to cooperate with the authorities by releasing the requested documents. The DOJ said Bain was laying claim to a blanket privilege, which the firm believes protects them against such governmental interference.
The DOJ’s Antitrust Division assistant attorney, Makan Delrahim, stated that the petition became expedient as most third parties with such privileged information tend to withhold such information. They mostly seek ways that they can circumvent releasing such information.
Makan made it known that the DOJ petition is the agency’s attempt to keep Bain in line with its regulatory bodies’ demands. It also would stand as an attempt to transparency by the government agency.
Visa’s Plaid facing legal battles
Financial behemoth, Visa, recent acquisition Plaid has faced at least two recent lawsuits from the public.
The first lawsuit alleges that Plaid violated the privacy of its users by monetising their transactions and accumulating their private data.
The complaint went on to state that Plaid had gotten all of this information through a process known as “data plumbing.”
Another lawsuit which is a more recent one alleges that Plaid had gathered users’ information of over 200 million accounts of individuals on Venmo, Coinbase, Stripe and Cashapp.
The lawsuit claimed the information was used by Plaid for commercial purpose .
Plaid in both cases have denied any culpability.
