U.S. judge upholds dismissal of prosecutors' subpoena to the Federal Reserve

People’s Finance News, April 4—A legal document released on April 3 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia shows that the court’s Chief Judge James E. Boasberg on the same day upheld a decision to deny subpoenas issued by the federal prosecutors to the Federal Reserve Board. Boasberg said that the defense materials hastily provided by the prosecution offered no new evidence and pointed to no substantive errors, so the court refused to reconsider the dismissal decision. Federal prosecutors sent two grand jury subpoenas to the Federal Reserve in January, seeking records of the most recent renovation of the Federal Reserve building and related records of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during congressional hearings. The Federal Reserve then filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to quash the two subpoenas. Powell said that threats of criminal charges he faces by the federal government were an attempt to undermine the Federal Reserve’s “independence” in setting interest rates. On March 11, Boasberg issued a dismissal ruling, saying that the two subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve were merely meant to pressure Powell and had no valid basis. (Xinhua News Agency)