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Bloomberg FOIA Request For Fed Documents on Bailout

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Via Michael Ravnitzky: “Bloomberg News asked the Federal Reserve Board to disclose the securities that the central bank is accepting from banks on behalf of taxpayers as collateral for $1.5 trillion in loans to the banks, according to a November 2008 Bloomberg news report by Mark Pittman. Bloomberg News [subsequently] sued the Federal Reserve to [obtain] the documents. The Bloomberg lawsuit is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)…The Government Attic website has posted documents from the Federal Reserve relating to a request by Bloomberg News for information on collateral put up for bank bailouts. The relevant material is a few pages into the document posted here titled: Contents of the administrative tracking/processing file for each FOIA request and FOIA Appeal received at the Federal Reserve Board from Bloomberg News Service during calendar years 2007 and 2008 – [21-February 2008].

  • Excerpt from the Fed’s response: “While the Board strongly supports transparency (as evidenced, in part, by its publication of extensive information on discount window and emergency operations of the Federal Reserve Banks), the Board also has a legal obligation under the FOIA to consider the significant adverse consequences that release of responsive information would have on the effectiveness of Federal Reserve Bank lending activity in addressing liquidity strains of financial markets and institutions and the potential adverse effects on the economy now and in the future. The Board also has to be and is mindful of the commercial and financial interests of borrowers, the institutions whose collateral secures the borrowings, and the financial integrity of the Federal Reserve Banks.”
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