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PRESS

August 31, 2009

CREW Files Second FOIA Request With Federal Reserve Board Over Refusal to Name Recipients of Aid

FOIA Requests (Legal Filings), Federal Agencies, Federal Reserve Board , Financial, Disclosure, FOIA, Transparency, Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a second Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the names and details of the recipients of the more than $2.2 trillion in financial assistance provided by the Federal Reserve Board over the past two years.

CREW filed its initial request for the records on March 3, 2009 in the wake of the Board's refusal to provide Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) with this information. The Board also refused to provide the information to CREW, claiming that disclosure would stigmatize the companies seeking assistance and cause them financial harm. CREW sued the Board in April, challenging its failure to produce records in response to CREW’s first request. Last week, in a lawsuit brought by Bloomberg News seeking similar information, a federal judge in New York ruled the information could not be withheld under FOIA because the risk of looking weak to competitors or shareholders is an inherent risk of participating in the market.

The new request seeks the names of recipients of financial assistance since the first request was filed, as well as information about the amount of each instance of assistance provided, the interest rates charged and other terms, and the rationale for providing assistance. As CREW again explained in this request, the documents it seeks are essential to understanding and assessing the government’s response to the devastating economic financial crisis.

Click here to read today’s FOIA request.

Click here to learn more about CREW's March 3, 2009 request.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Garrett Russo at 202.408.5565 or grusso@citizensforethics.org