FORMER FTC ENFORCEMENT ATTORNEY JOINS DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE’S EXPANDING BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES PRACTICE

As banks, FinTech companies, and others providing financial services navigate a complex regulatory landscape, Davis Wright Tremaine has added a former Federal Trade Commission enforcement attorney to its enforcement & investigations practice within the banking and financial services group. Thomas Kost joins DWT’s Seattle office as counsel, strengthening the firm’s growing regulatory practice area.

Prior to joining the firm, Kost served as a staff attorney with the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, where he played a leading role in handling all aspects of investigations and litigation to enforce the FTC Act’s prohibition on deceptive or unfair conduct, as well as a range of other consumer financial laws. He also helped develop the agency’s enforcement strategy relating to small business financing. Before joining the FTC, Kost practiced at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where he represented banks, card issuers, and non-bank financial services providers in high-stakes matters involving retail deposit products, overdraft services, mortgage lending and servicing, credit cards, and prepaid cards.

Kost began his career as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. He received his B.A. in politics from Whitman College and his J.D. from Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law.