Powell’s secrecy, closed-door Fed meetings trigger lawsuit

The Federal Reserve is being accused of violating federal transparency laws in a lawsuit being filed against Chairman Jerome Powell.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by investment firm Azoria Capital following closed-door meetings by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). This, the suit contends, is in violation of the Government in the Sunshine Act of 1976.

“Additionally, the suit seeks to temporarily bar the FOMC from closing its upcoming July 29-30 meeting to the public. The meeting is where the 12 members of the committee discuss monetary policy decisions — chiefly whether to raise or lower the nation’s interest rate,” Fox Business reported.  “Azoria Capital maintains that without real-time access to FOMC deliberations, it cannot adequately assess monetary policy risks, resulting in a competitive disadvantage and increased portfolio volatility.”

James Fishback, Azoria Capital CEO and founder, told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that federal transparency laws require public observation and “the fact that they’ve always broken the law doesn’t excuse them from breaking the law.”

(Video Credit: Fox Business)

Members of the FOMC, John Williams, Michael Barr, Michelle Bowman, Susan Collins, Lisa Cook, Austan Goolsbee, Philip Jefferson, Adriana Kugler, Alberto Musalem, Jeffrey Schmid, and Christopher Waller, were named in the lawsuit, according to the outlet. Fishback suggested a judge should order a temporary restraining order against Powell ahead of the scheduled meeting next week.

A draft of Azoria’s lawsuit states: “If the FOMC’s July 29-30, 2025, meeting is allowed to proceed in secret, it will unlawfully deprive Azoria and the American public of timely access to deliberations that may reveal improper political motives behind the FOMC’s decisions.”

Any decisions made and minutes from the sessions are made public following the meetings, as the committee is concerned that “real-time transparency could potentially disrupt financial markets,” Fox Business noted.

“The exemption policy in the Sunshine Act says that you have to vote as a committee whether to invoke that exemption. They have chosen not to do that,” Fishback told the outlet. “They’re using the same exact exemption 9A every single time. All four meetings this year under Powell, they’ve used that exemption, and it does not apply if you use it every single time.”

“The public deserves to know what’s going on, and hiding behind an exemption as an excuse is unacceptable, and in our case, it is illegal,” he added. “I would say that more transparency is always better than less transparency.”

Fishback recently spoke with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, voicing his criticism of Powell and urging President Donald Trump to appoint a new Fed chair sooner rather than later.

Azoria CEO James Fishback: “My recommendation to President Trump would be to appoint a Fed Chair far earlier than anyone expects so Jerome Powell’s influence can be totally nullified.” pic.twitter.com/rpFGb9qkzy

— Azoria (@investazoria) July 20, 2025

Trump named Powell to the position in 2017, but has been vocal in his criticism in his second presidential term, calling on the Fed chair to lower interest rates.

Fishback told Fox Business that he is expecting the Federal Reserve will “lean on that argument about market confusion and uncertainty,” in order to keep meetings closed.

“But make no mistake, there is more confusion and uncertainty in the markets today, because we have no idea what the Federal Reserve is doing, and that is why we are suing Jerome Powell,” he said.

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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