Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell arrives ahead of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ “Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference” at the William McChesney Martin Jr. Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington, DC on July 22, 2025.
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A judge on Monday questioned whether a lawsuit seeking to force the Federal Reserve to open to the public a meeting on setting interest rates is a publicity stunt to generate interest in the new investment fund that filed the civil complaint.
Judge Beryl Howell, during a hearing on the request, noted that the CEO of the plaintiff, Azoria Capital, had discussed the suit last week during an interview on a Fox Business show, “Mornings with Maria,” which was mentioned in a court filing.
“I do not it’s very unusual,” Howell said, referring to the mention of the interview. “I’ve never seen information like this in such a certification.”
“And it made me think: Are you filing the … lawsuit to generate publicity for the launch of this new fund,” Howell said in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
“I mean, the courts are very, very busy, and using the filing of a lawsuit as a business strategy to build publicity or generate interest in a new investment fund is not a particularly welcome development,” Howell said.
A lawyer for Azoria replied, saying, “Your honor, that is not the purpose.”
“The purpose of including that in the certificate of service is because local rule 65.1 requires us to list all of the efforts, everything that has happened to try to advise the other side about the lawsuit,” the attorney said.
“So that was simply included in the certification to emphasize that we’ve emailed these folks, and we have not, you know, heard responses back.”
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