Fed vice-chairman Richard Clarida resigns amid trading scandal

Federal Reserve vice-chairman Richard Clarida said Monday he will step down on Friday, the third Fed official to resign in the wake of a trading scandal at the central bank.

The announcement followed new revelations around Clarida’s trading in a stock fund in February 2020, when the coronavirus threatened to upend the global economy and the Fed was discussing extraordinary measures to counter its impact.

The New York Times last week reported that Clarida amended his financial disclosures to show that he had sold and then repurchased shares in the stock fund in a matter of days that month. The repurchase came a day before Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed was prepared to support markets and the economy.

Clarida, who has been part of an inner circle of Fed officials close to Powell and known as the “troika,” was scheduled to finish his term at the end of this month. Instead, he will instead resign about two weeks early.

Clarida began his position in September 2018 after having taught at Columbia University and worked for 12 years for the investment fund manager PIMCO.

Christopher Rugaber, The Associated Press

Christopher Rugaber is a reporter with The Associated Press,  an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City and founded in 1846.