Former Fed official Adriana Kugler violated trading rules, disclosure report shows
By Gordon Ebanks, CNN
(CNN) — Dr. Adriana Kugler, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors who abruptly announced her resignation in August, broke the central bank’s trading rules, according to a report released Saturday by the US Office of Government Ethics.
That disclosure shows violations of purchasing stocks and making those trades in 2024 during a “blackout period,” which is ahead of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings when officials are prohibited from trading securities.
An official from the Federal Reserve told CNN that the ethics report Kugler filed had detailed financial transactions that explicitly violated the central bank’s policy. In advance of July’s FOMC meeting, which Kugler did not attend, she requested a waiver from the Fed’s “blackout trading restrictions” — intended to ensure Federal Reserve officials don’t profit off of monetary policy decisions that can have large impacts on stock performance — to address “impermissible holdings.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell denied the waiver, and Kugler resigned.
In October 2024, Kugler had been given training after another issue led Fed ethics officials to refer her to the Office of the Inspector General, the official told CNN.
A spokesperson for the OIG told CNN that it has opened an investigation into the matter.
The Fed announced new trading rules in October 2021 following a controversy over trades made by senior officials. The rules banned policymakers and senior staff from buying individual stocks and bonds and restricted active trading. The Fed also sought to increase the frequency of reporting and public disclosures.
Some of the stocks that Kugler invested in include Apple (AAPL), Caterpillar (CAT) and Palo Alto Networks (PANW).
Kugler signed the public financial disclosure report on September 11, 2025. The report also notes, “Consistent with her September 15, 2024, disclosure, certain trading activity was carried out by Dr. Kugler’s spouse, without Dr. Kugler’s knowledge and she affirms that her spouse did not intend to violate any rules or policies.”
Kugler has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Kugler was appointed by then-President Joe Biden in 2023. She previously served in the Obama administration as the chief economist to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and is a professor at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
The Fed did not cite a reason for Kugler’s departure when she announced her resignation on August 1. Her term as Federal Reserve governor was slated to end on January 31, 2026.
After Kugler announced her exit, President Donald Trump said he was “very happy” about having an open spot on the Fed Board. Trump filled the seat by tapping Stephen Miran, one of his top economic advisers. Miran has participated in two Fed meetings and broken ranks with the vast majority of Fed officials each time.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released a statement Saturday calling for stronger ethics rules to prevent Fed officials from improper trading.
“Independence does not mean impunity, and Congress needs to pass bipartisan legislation to make the Fed more transparent and accountable,” said Warren, who is a ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. “The American people should be able to trust that the Fed’s decisions are driven by the best interests of the American people, and not the personal interests of individual officials or the political interests of Donald Trump.”
This is story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Bryan Mena and Matt Egan contributed to this report.
