Warren asks SEC to probe trading by US central bank officials
Al Jazeera
Senator Elizabeth Warren is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to look into stock transactions by officials who work for the US Federal Reserve.
Senator Elizabeth Warren called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether stock transactions by top Federal Reserve officials violated insider trading rules.
“The reports of this financial activity by Fed officials raise serious questions about possible conflicts of interest and reveal a disregard for the public trust,” the Massachusetts Democrat wrote in a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. “They also reflect atrocious judgement by these officials, and an attitude that personal profiteering is more important than the American people’s confidence in the Fed.”
Warren cited a Bloomberg News report on Friday that Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida’s 2020 financial disclosures show he traded between $1 million and $5 million out of a bond fund into stock funds one day before Chair Jerome Powell issued a statement flagging possible policy action as the pandemic worsened. Two regional Fed chiefs recently announced their departures following revelations about their trading activity last year.
