Zelle was sued on Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said the electronic payment platform's refusal to adopt critical safety features enabled fraudsters to steal more than $1 billion from consumers.

New York's attorney general sues the payment app's parent company after the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its own case following major budget cuts.

New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Early Warning Services, or EWS, alleging the parent company of Zelle failed to implement certain safeguards, causing "catastrophic harm to millions of consumers" and allowing fraudsters to steal more than $1 billion from 2017 to 2023.