Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was tricked into an extended phone call in January with Russian pranksters posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during which Powell appeared to discuss the economic impact of interest rate hikes.
Videos of the phone call have been posted on social media. In one clip, Powell says a “recession is almost as likely as very slow growth” this year. Powell has said before that the Fed’s rapid series of rate hikes in the past year would slow the economy and even potentially cause a recession.
A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve said “the video appears to have been edited, and I cannot confirm it is accurate.”
“Chair Powell participated in a conversation in January with someone who misrepresented himself as the Ukrainian president,” the spokesperson said. “It was a friendly conversation and took place in a context of our standing in support of the Ukrainian people in this challenging time. No sensitive or confidential information was discussed.”
The spokesperson would not say whether the call demonstrated that the Fed faces security lapses or what steps would be taken to try to prevent it from occurring again.
“The matter has been referred to appropriate law enforcement, and out of respect for their efforts we won’t be commenting further,” the spokesperson said.
The phone call was reportedly carried out by a duo of longtime Russian pranksters, Vladimir Kutznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, according to Bloomberg News. The pair have previously tricked other world leaders into conversations under false pretenses, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde earlier this year and then-UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in 2018.
The Powell incident has come to light at a time when the Fed is under intense scrutiny over its interest rate hikes, which are intended to cool the economy and slow inflation. Yet if the Fed keeps rates too high for too long, a recession could result.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
