A Former Prosecutor on How Fintechs Become Targets, with Laurel Loomis Rimon from Jenner & Block

Laurel Loomis Rimon has spent her career on the enforcement side of fintech. As a federal prosecutor she brought the first case against a digital currency company in the US, years before Bitcoin existed. She later served as an assistant deputy enforcement director at the CFPB, and today she co-chairs the fintech and crypto assets practice at Jenner & Block and founded the firm's payments practice.In this episode, Reggie Young talks with Laurel about how enforcement and prosecution of fintech actually work in practice. They cover what puts a company on an investigator's radar, what genuinely exposes fintechs and banks to enforcement, how regulators and prosecutors assess good faith, and how she is advising clients to navigate debanking, KYC, and a fast-moving regulatory environment.Fintech Layer Cake is powered by Lithic, financial infrastructure that helps teams build better card and payments products for consumers and businesses.Chapters: 00:00 – Cold open: the risk everyone underrates 00:22 – Meet Laurel Loomis Rimon: DOJ, CFPB, and Jenner & Block 02:15 – Prosecuting E-gold, the first digital currency case 04:24 – The legal hooks before crypto law existed 05:48 – Money transmitting becomes a baseline concern 06:10 – What actually makes a company a target 07:13 – Why the company is rarely the target at the start 08:02 – Don't become the platform of choice for illicit actors 08:25 – Regulators are consumers too 09:39 – When the complainant is the regulator's own family 09:57 – What fintechs worry about too much 10:16 – The most boring risk: documentation 12:06 – Product thinking as a compliance skill 12:26 – How regulators assess good faith 12:58 – Why staffing is always key, even in the age of AI 14:18 – When growth outpaces compliance investment 15:40 – Where debanking comes from: Operation Choke Point 17:45 – Reputation risk and the regulatory whiplash 21:02 – How KYC changes amid the debanking pushback 22:25 – The executive order tension banks are caught in 23:34 – Advising fintechs to build for the next administration 25:41 – Where to reach LaurelNothing in this podcast should be construed as legal or financial advice.Subscribe for new episodes every other Wednesday. If you enjoy the show, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help more people in fintech find it.