The judge agreed that the probe was an improper attempt to intimidate the central bank into cutting interest rates. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The judge agreed that the probe was an improper attempt to intimidate the central bank into cutting interest rates. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

A federal judge blocked the criminal probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday, ruling the federal investigation into a renovation project seemed to be a pretext for harassing the centr

Judge Boasberg described the effort as an attempt to pressure Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell into lowering interest rates or resigning.

A federal judge has blocked subpoenas seeking records from the Federal Reserve as part of a criminal investigation involving Chair Jerome Powell.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Friday said he was blocking subpoenas that the Justice Department served to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a probe purported to be about the management of the central bank's renovation. "A mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning," Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge on the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., wrote in a court filing. Boasberg continued: "On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual." "The Court therefore finds that the subpoenas were issued for an improper purpose and will quash them," the order states. Powell said the threatened indictment was related to his testimony before the Senate in June about the renovation of Federal Reserve office…