The Federal Reserve withheld some information from Congress regarding an internal investigation into a leak of its monetary policy plans on the grounds that it would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation, a letter sent by Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen Friday revealed.
In the letter, sent as a response to a subpoena from the House Financial Services Committee, Yellen informed committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling that providing all the pertinent information would “risk jeopardizing the ongoing criminal investigation” by the Department of Justice.
The letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal Friday, also enclosed a letter from the Fed’s inspector general dated Wednesday advising that Yellen withhold the relevant information in response to the May 21 subpoena.
The subpoena relates to the Fed’s handling of a leak of information from one of its monetary policy meetings in 2012, as it prepared to embark on a new program of large-scale bond purchases.
Fed meetings are conducted behind closed doors, and the decisions made at the meetings can have massive effects on global financial markets.
The New York Times reported earlier Friday that the Fed did not follow its own guidelines to involve the inspector general, set in 2011, in response to the 2012 leak, and instead investigated it internally.
The Fed’s management of the leak has drawn concern from Fed analysts and members of Congress.
The leak took place when Ben Bernanke was the chairman of the Board of Governors and when Yellen was the vice chairwoman.
