Ex-Fed governor Adriana Kugler resigned after violating trading rules

Kugler stepped down in early August—nearly six months before her term was set to end

- Bloomberg

Newly released documents showed previously undisclosed trading by Kugler in 2024 in individual stocks

Former US Federal Reserve (Fed) governor Adriana Kugler, whose abrupt resignation allowed President Donald Trump to install an ally at the US central bank, violated Fed ethics rules and was subject to an internal probe when she stepped down in August, documents released Saturday showed.

In her final weeks at the Fed, Kugler sought to address a problem with her financial holdings, but chair Jerome Powell denied her request for a necessary waiver ahead of the central bank’s 29-30 July policy meeting, according to a Fed official. She skipped the meeting and announced her resignation days later.

The Office of Government Ethics on Saturday released Kugler’s latest financial disclosures, which included previously undisclosed trading in multiple individual stocks in 2024—some of which occurred during the Fed's blackout period—in violation of the agency's ethics rules.

Fed ethics officials referred the matter to the agency’s inspector general (IG) earlier this year, the form showed. They also declined to certify the disclosures, which Kugler filed about a month after her resignation. An IG spokesperson said Saturday that an investigation is ongoing.

Kugler’s resignation gave Trump an earlier-than-expected opportunity to fill a slot on the Fed’s board in the midst of his intense pressure campaign urging policymakers to drastically lower interest rates. The opening ultimately went to Trump adviser Stephen Miran, who took an unpaid leave of absence from his post as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and has called repeatedly for rapid rate cuts.