North India Statesman
[ad_1]
Former Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler had to resign from her post because she broke the Fed’s ethical rules. When he suddenly stepped down from his post in August, an internal investigation was underway against him. This has been revealed by some official documents released on Saturday.
The case involved Kugler’s personal financial holdings. In his last few weeks at the Federal Reserve, Kugler tried to solve this problem, but to no avail. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell rejected Kugler’s request for a special waiver just ahead of the central bank’s key policy meeting on July 29-30. After this setback, Kugler did not attend that important meeting and announced his resignation a few days later.
What is the whole matter and violation of ‘blackout period’?
Documents released Saturday revealed that Kugler had traded in several different stocks in 2024, information about which he had not previously disclosed. What’s more serious is that some of these trades took place during ‘blackout periods’, which is a direct violation of Fed rules.
‘Blackout period’ is the time when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting is scheduled to take place. During this period, there is a complete ban on senior officers and employees from buying or selling any kind of shares or making public statements, so that there is no impact on the policy. Earlier this year, Fed ethics officials referred Kugler’s case to the inspector general for further investigation.
Rules have been broken before too
This is not the first time Kugler has broken Fed rules. Last year also she had admitted that her husband had made several stock trades, which were against the rules. Kugler had then clarified that her husband had done all this without her knowledge. Later those shares were sold.
But the new documents show that the trading that took place in 2024 was in individual stocks, which is strictly prohibited for Fed officials and their close relatives.
