Sunday, April 30, 2023

Pranksters posing as Ukraine's president tricked the Fed chair into a phone call -- Sydney Park

The Federal Reserve Chairperson, Jerome Powell, was tricked into a long phone call with Russian pranksters pretending to be Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky, and during this call, he discussed the economic impact of interest rate hikes. Videos of this call were posted on social media; in one video, Powell discusses how the Fed's fast rate hikes in the past year will slow the economy and potentially cause a recession; a Fed spokesperson says that the video appears to have been edited, and they cannot confirm that it is accurate. They also said that no sensitive or confidential information was discussed.

The call was reported to have been the works of two longtime Russian pranksters, Vladimir Kutznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov (Bloomberg News). They have tricked other world leaders into conversations under false pretenses. 

This phone call has been brought to light while the Fed is already under tremendous scrutiny because of its interest hikes, which are intended to cool the economy and slow inflation, but the Fed keeps rates too high for too long, which could result in a recession.


--Sydney Park


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