After sending letters to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) last month, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) received correspondence that both agencies will launch investigations into Operation Choke Point.

The letters, sent in late October by Luetkemeyer and signed by over 30 members of Congress, were directed to FDIC Acting Inspector General Fred Gibson, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and Robin Ashton, head of DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

“The correspondence I received from the FDIC and DOJ is a great first step in ensuring that those responsible for Operation Choke Point are held accountable and that Congress and the American people receive details and answers they deserve,” Luetkemeyer said. “The FDIC has committed to conducting a review of the agency’s activities related to Operation Choke Point to ensure that the actions taken were consistent with laws and regulations and they will investigate charges that a senior FDIC official provided false testimony to Congress. The DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility has opened an inquiry and will gather and review material applicable to Operation Choke Point. In the meantime, I will continue to push for more transparency and information as to how this unprecedented program was implemented.”

Operation Choke Point is an operation in which the FDIC and DOJ intimidate financial institutions from offering financial services to certain licensed, legally-operating industries the government doesn’t like in an attempt to choke off those industries from our country’s banking system. These include the non-depository lending industry, ammunition and firearms sales, fireworks sales, tobacco sales, coin dealers, debt collectors, pawnbrokers and pharmaceutical sales.