From the very outset of the financial crisis, we were told if the federal government did not “invest” massive amount of taxpayer funds to bail out failing companies, the entire world economy would grind to a halt. And what was the evidence that the government used to support this claim?
Judicial Watch launched a comprehensive investigation to determine under what legal authorities and lawful rationales the federal government initiated the Wall Street bailouts. Judicial Watch has filed a number of lawsuits to get answers for the American people. That effort continues full steam ahead.
On July 18, 2012, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) seeking records related to the government bailout of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). We filed our lawsuit on behalf of Vern McKinley, a former employee of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and author of Financing Failure: A Century of Bailouts.
Here’s what we’re after pursuant to our original May 15, 2012, FOIA request:
… Copies of any and all records of the Board located at the [Federal Reserve Bank of New York] concerning, regarding, or relating to the proposition that ‘the disorderly failure of AIG was likely to have a systemic effect on financial markets that were already experiencing a significant level of fragility.’ Such records include, but are not limited to…detailed meeting minutes, meeting notes, supporting memoranda, communications, and electronic messages and attachments.
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