Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, acting CFPB director, testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) semi-annual report to Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. watchdog for protecting consumers against financial abuse on Thursday blamed employees for “leaking” information about cases that he had dropped or was aiming to settle, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

Mick Mulvaney, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said he should be trusted to decide matters concerning his agency and said employees were undermining his work.

“I recognize that there may well be some (a few? A lot?) of people who work here who aren’t happy that I’m working here,” Mulvaney wrote in a memo to staff on Thursday afternoon.

“That’s fine. I also recognize that those folks might be interested in undermining my leadership.”

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Mulvaney was seeking a $1 billion penalty against Wells Fargo & Co for harming customers of auto insurance and mortgage loans.

In recent weeks, Reuters reported that Mulvaney had dropped a case against a collection agency for payday lenders. Mulvaney’s predecessor, Richard Cordray, had hoped to collect $45 million in compensation for borrowers of the company, National Credit Adjusters.

Both of those stories cited sources familiar with the workings of the cases.