The White House Renews Its Attack on ‘Surprise Fees’

▤ Summary

President Biden will host executives from several companies, including Airbnb and Live Nation, to announce new efforts to end so-called junk fees as inflation remains high. At the White House on Thursday, he will host a panel of executives from several companies, including Airbnb and Live Nation, which drew outrage from consumers over its botched ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s tour last year. The companies are expected to announce new efforts to “end surprise fees,” the White House said, including through price-transparency commitments and other ways of fully disclosing upfront costs to consumers. In his State of the Union address in February, he denounced the added costs: “I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it.” He has asked several federal regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Transportation Department, to increase oversight of the opaque fees charged by banks and airlines. Mr. Sahni, 46, rejoined Wilmer as a partner in 2015 after serving for a decade in the office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he led the securities and commodities fraud task force and earlier co-headed the terrorism and international narcotics unit.

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