The Federal Reserve got a new legal headache Thursday when a money manager sued Chair Jerome Powell and other central bank policymakers in a Washington, D.C. federal court, arguing it is violating a 1976 federal law by keeping its monetary policy meetings behind closed doors.
The lawsuit from Azoria Capital asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order compelling the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to let the public see its deliberations starting next Tuesday and Wednesday, when central bank policy makers gather in Washington to decide on their next interest rate move.
The lawsuit comes as the Fed is under pressure on several fronts by President Trump, who is scheduled to visit Fed headquarters today along with other White House allies touring a $2.5 billion refurbishment of the central bank’s National Mall buildings. Trump and other administration officials have criticized the project for its cost overruns.
The firm bringing the new lawsuit against Powell and other members of the FOMC, Azoria, is led by CEO James Fishback, who is close to the Trump administration and served as an adviser to the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Last year Fishback used Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club as the setting to announce an anti-DEI exchange traded fund called the Azoria 500 Meritocracy ETF (SPXM) that this month began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Azoria argues in its suit that “by operating beyond public scrutiny, the FOMC is deliberately undermining the public accountability envisioned by Congress” and that if a firm such as Azoria does not have real-time access to FOMC deliberations, it “cannot fully consider and protect itself against Federal Reserve policy shifts that can create volatility.”
Azoria also states in its suit that it “is deeply concerned that the FOMC, under Chair Jerome Powell, is maintaining high interest rates to undermine President Donald J. Trump and his economic agenda, to the detriment of American citizens and the American economy” and that current policy stance of the FOMC “appears politically motivated.”
Fishback made the administration aware of the suit before it was filed, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The FOMC has not changed interest rates since Trump took office, as many policymakers argue more time is needed to assess how Trump’s trade policies will affect inflation before reducing rates again. Trump has hammered Powell and the Fed repeatedly for this view, arguing that rates should be 3 percentage points lower.
Investors don’t expect the Fed to change rates at the meeting on July 29-30, although two Fed governors have said they could support a cut.
