''Bloomberg L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System'', 1:08-cv-09595, was a lawsuit by

Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, and a 1 ...

against the

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mo ...

for disclosure of information about banks and other financial institutions that had borrowed from the Federal Reserve

discount window The discount window is an instrument of monetary policy (usually controlled by central banks) that allows eligible institutions to borrow money from the central bank, usually on a short-term basis, to meet temporary shortages of liquidity caused by ...

during the

United States housing bubble The 2000s United States housing bubble was a real-estate bubble affecting over half of the U.S. states. It was the impetus for the subprime mortgage crisis. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and reac ...

and ensuing

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

. During the financial crisis, the U.S. Congress, Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, developed the

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, often called the "bank bailout of 2008", was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, passed by the 110th United States Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It became ...

to shore up financial institutions by purchasing mortgage-backed securities, and loaning cash directly to banks and

bank holding companies A bank holding company is a company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself. The compound bancorp (''banc''/''bank'' + '' corp ration') is often used to refer to these companies as well. United State ...

. Many of the distressed banks would not come forward to accept such loans publicly for fear of a bank run and loss of investors. As a result, the Federal Reserve developed a program for those banks and financial institutions to access the discount window which is not normally subject to publication. As part of investigative reporting conducted by journalists

Mark Pittman James Mark Pittman (October 25, 1957 - November 25, 2009) was a financial journalist covering corporate finance and derivative markets. He was awarded several prestigious journalism awards, the Gerald Loeb Award, the George Polk Award, a New ...

and Bob Ivry, Bloomberg L.P. was denied a request to the Federal Reserve, under the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

, for disclosure of borrower banks and their collateral. Subsequently, a lawsuit was filed with

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

on November 7, 2008 in order to force disclosure. On August 24, 2009, Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled that the Federal Reserve had until September 14 to disclose the information. Later, on August 27, the court agreed to the Fed's request to delay implementation of a ruling until the Court of Appeals acts on its appeal. It was given until no later than September 30, 2009 to obtain an appeals authorization. The case was successfully appealed to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...

. March 19, 2010, a unanimous three judge panel of the appeals court ruled the Federal Reserve Board must release the documents. May 4, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board and The Clearing House Association L.L.C. appealed for a rehearing however, August 20, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied both requests. August 26, 2010, the Board filed a request to stay the judgement for appeal to the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. On August 26, 2010, the court agreed to delay implementation of the ruling until October 19 so that the Fed may appeal to the Supreme Court. The case was appealed but ultimately rejected on March 21, 2011. The Federal Reserve was required to release the data within five days to Bloomberg L.P.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloomberg L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System United States District Court for the Southern District of New York cases Freedom of information in the United States Bloomberg L.P. Federal Reserve System 2009 in United States case law

See also

References