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Joseph Simons
Photo: U.S. government work, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

ProfilePerson

Joseph Simons

Oversight and enforcement

Type
Person
Role
Oversight and enforcement
Updated

The profile

Chairman of the FTC, 2018–2021, during the agency's early pandemic-relief consumer-protection cases; later returned to Paul, Weiss.

Identity and role

Joseph J. Simons served as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (2018–2021; FTC biography), leading the agency's early COVID consumer-protection response; the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act, Title XIV of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, became law on December 27, 2020, weeks before he left in January 2021.

Biography / career arc

Antitrust practitioner (Paul, Weiss); FTC Bureau of Competition director → FTC Chairman (2018) → back to Paul, Weiss (antitrust/competition) (FTC biography; Paul, Weiss profile).

Pandemic-relief / PPP-EIDL role

The Womply case came after his tenure, under Khan.

Simons had left the FTC in January 2021, three years before the March 2024 PPP-fintech settlements under Chair Lina Khan. Under his chairmanship the FTC began the agency's early COVID consumer-protection response (warning letters and marketing-claim scrutiny) before later leadership brought the Womply and Biz2Credit cases under the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act.

Paul, Weiss identifies him as FTC Chairman from 2018 to 2021 and as a former Director of the Bureau of Competition. His post-FTC work is antitrust counseling and litigation.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

At Paul, Weiss (firm profile capture).

Additional public-record notes

Lobbying & industry ties

No lobbying registrations. Antitrust-defense practice.

Sources held in this archive

Original source documents and archived captures

Sources

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