Investigative Article on 'Beleaguered' Consumer Watchdog Reveals Millions Pocketed by Harvey Rosenfield, Jamie Court & “Nonprofit” Instead of Helping Earthquake Victims

September 23, 2025

To: Interested Parties

From: Nicole Ganley, APCIA

Re: Investigative Article on "Beleaguered" Consumer Watchdog Reveals Millions Pocketed by Harvey Rosenfield, Jamie Court & "Nonprofit" Instead of Helping Earthquake Victims

Capitol Weekly's well-respected investigative reporter Brian Joseph has published a blockbuster 2,500 word story exposing the faux "consumer" group Consumer Watchdog-a group with no members that has long enriched its leaders while blocking reforms. Read it here :¿

Among the highlights of his investigation:

• Consumer Watchdog founder Harvey Rosenfield set up an organization in 1997 called the Consumer Education Foundation (CEF). It was designed to help Northridge earthquake victims. But of the $5 million in seed money, $2 million went to Rosenfield himself in salary, and in grants to his other group, Consumer Watchdog.¿

• Rosenfield claimed he could spend the money better than the Red Cross. And yet he invested heavily in Enron during the California Energy Crisis - despite his group's anti-corporate image. CEF has $4,224.40 in remaining assets. Earthquake victims? They received nothing.

• On top of that, "From 2004 to 2023, Harvey Rosenfield collected nearly $8 million in fees as an independent contractor for Consumer Watchdog...Rosenfield also had another employer, the Consumer Education Foundation, which paid him an annual salary of $100,000 almost every year until 2021."¿

• "From 2014 to 2024...Consumer Watchdog received more than $6.2 million in court-awarded or Insurance Commissioner-awarded fees for Harvey Rosenfield's work. During that same period, Consumer Watchdog paid Rosenfield a little more than $4.8 million."

As noted in the Capitol Weekly article, "Consumer Watchdog has created a system that uniquely benefits itself."

So, when covering the state's insurance crisis and Consumer Watchdog's never-ending roadblocks to reform, we hope you keep these facts in mind.¿