After indications of possible violations, authorities are taking a closer look at Fed Chair Powell's securities transactions over the past two years. The results of the report are now available.
According to the responsible authority, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has not broken any rules or laws with his questionable securities transactions. The Office of Inspector General has also given former Fed Vice Richard Clarida a clean record. However, Clarida failed, among other things, to announce various trading activities in the form of disclosure required for this. In addition, a financial adviser to Powell's family transacted business during a FOMC meeting while trading was prohibited.
The report that has now been published examines the transactions of central bankers from 2019 to 2021. It is the result of a nine-month investigation by the independent authority. Among other things, e-mails, documents and broker notifications were evaluated. In addition, there were surveys of "relevant people".
Clarida resigned early in January. According to previous media reports, he rebalanced his portfolio in February 2020, one day before a major announcement by Powell. At the time, the head of the central bank warned of the risks posed by the corona virus and promised a response from the Fed should this become necessary. In December, Clarida reportedly corrected its financial statements.
The events follow the affair surrounding trading activities by high-ranking US central bankers, which led to the resignation of two Fed members last year. The US Federal Reserve promised to tighten its rules on the disclosure of private transactions in the financial markets because of the criticism of Clarida and other top representatives.
