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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon FOIA Denial
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SDNY COURT / BRONX, Sept 4 –    The Federal Reserve took five months to act on Inner City Press' Freedom of Information Act request about OneCoin, Wirecard and marijuana banking - and that provided no documents at all.  Denial on DocumentCloud here.

In response to Inner City Press' March 2021 FOIA request, the Fed on August 31 wrote:

"This is in reference to your email message dated March 10, 2021 and received by  the Board’s Information Disclosure Section on March 11. In your email, you note that  “Inner City Press has been covering the US v. Weigand bank fraud trial in the SDNY[.]”  In light of this coverage, and pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5  U.S.C. § 552, you request: all records in the possession or control of the FRS, from the past three  years, regarding Wirecard, including but not reference to the bank’s  collapse’s implications for the FRS’ view of German bank regulation  under FBSEA [and] all records the FRS has, in the past three years,  regarding [Gilbert] Armenta, Ruja Ignatova, Mark Scott and/or  OneCoin, and also regarding marijuana banking, central to the case(s).

With respect to the part of your request seeking the past three years’ worth of  records regarding Wirecard, staff searched Board records but did not locate any  information related to implications of “the bank’s collapse” or the Weigand case you  reference in your request.1   With respect to the part of your request seeking all records “regarding [Gilbert]  Armenta, Ruja Ignatova, Mark Scott and/or OneCoin” for the past three years, staff  searched Board records and located one responsive document.

 I have determined,  however, that the responsive information constitutes confidential supervisory information  (e.g., a supervisory report). This information is subject to withholding and will be withheld pursuant to exemption 8 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(8).    

  Inner City Press has appealed:

"This is a FOIA appeal of the Deputy Secretary's August 31, 2021 denial in full of my and Inner City Press' March 10, 2021 FOIA request for 

'all records in the possession or control of the FRS, from the past three years, regarding Wirecard, including but not reference to the bank’s collapse’s implications for the FRS’ view of German bank regulation under FBSEA [and] all records the FRS has, in the past three years, regarding [Gilbert] Armenta, Ruja Ignatova, Mark Scott and/or OneCoin, and also regarding marijuana banking, central to the case(s)"    After taking more than five months, the Federal Reserve says it has no records about Wirecard, and only one about OneCoin, which it withholds in full. This is an appeal - and a request for how the Fed can justify taking five months to provide no documents at all.    As to Wirecard, the request is not as circumscribed as the response makes it appear. Given the payments issues raised by the Wirecard collapse, Inner City Press finds it hard to believe that the Fed has no records concerning it. And since the Federal Reserve did not and does not regulate or supervised OneCoin, Inner City Press contests the invocation of the bank supervision exemption to withhold this record in full. Particular given statements on cryptocurrency from Federal Reserve officials, for example the present of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, that the entire Federal Reserve System claims to have a single document about OneCoin is not credible.   As to marijuana banking, to refuse to provide any documents is unacceptable. Given the legal issues of this substance being illegal federally but legal in several states, it is impossible to believe that the Fed has not provided guidance to banks on the topic. Those records are responsive, particularly after five months."

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