Jerome Powell, head of the US Federal Reserve System. Biography
Jerome Powell — Early years and early career
Jerome Powell was born in 1953 in Washington, DC. He became the second child in a family of six children in total. Powell's father worked as a lawyer and represented the interests of steel companies in negotiations with trade unions. The mother of the future head of the Federal Reserve Service (FRS) of the United States was a mathematician and statistician, worked for the National Committee of the Republican Party.
Like his father, Jerome graduated from an elite Jesuit boarding school, Georgetown Preparatory School. He received his higher education at Princeton University, where he received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1975. Powell received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University in 1979. During his student years, he was also the editor-in-chief of the Georgetown University Law Journal.
After graduating from Princeton, Powell worked for a year as an assistant to Republican Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania. After graduating with a law degree, he continued his career as a judge's clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. From 1981 to 1983, Powell worked as a lawyer at the international firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, and then, in 1983-1984, at the New York company Werbel & McMillen.
Jerome Powell — a career in finance
In 1984, Powell decided to change his professional direction and became an investment banker at Dillon, Read & Co. His responsibilities included corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions. In six years of work, he became the senior vice president of the company.
In 1990, Powell moved to the U.S. Treasury Department. He was an assistant and then Deputy Secretary of the Treasury to Nicholas Brady (who previously, in 1970-1988, headed the board of directors of Dillon, Read & Co). Powell was responsible for the Department's policy on financial institutions and the debt market.
In 1991, he oversaw the investigation of the scandal surrounding the investment bank Salomon Brothers, whose employees filed false applications for treasury securities. Powell also prepared proposals that formed the basis for subsequent changes in the system of auctions of government securities.
In 1993, Powell became managing director of Bankers Trust (later absorbed by Deutsche Bank), but left this post in 1995 after the derivatives contracts scandal. He returned to Dillon, Read & Co., and from 1997 to 2005 he was a partner in one of the largest investment funds, the Carlyle Group.
In 2010-2012, Powell, receiving a nominal salary of $1 per year, worked as a visiting scholar at the Washington think tank Center for Bipartisan Politics. He dealt with fiscal issues and played a key role in persuading Congress to raise the U.S. debt ceiling during the 2011 debt crisis. Based on his research, he described in detail the consequences of a possible default for the economy and convinced congressmen of the need to raise the debt ceiling.
Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve System (FRS) of the USA
In December 2011, Barack Obama, who was President of the United States at the time, proposed that Powell be included in the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for a two-year term to fill the vacant seat. And in June, the Senate approved him for a full 14-year term (until 2028). In this position, Powell supported Fed Chair Janet Yellen's policy of gradually raising the key interest rate.
In November 2017, US President Donald Trump nominated Powell to the post of chairman of the Federal Reserve System, and in January of the following year, the Senate approved his candidacy. He became the first Fed chairman in 30 years without a PhD in economics.
One of Powell's first steps in his new post was to continue his policy of raising interest rates. This policy has been repeatedly criticized by Trump. The American leader stated that Powell's actions could slow down economic growth and undermine the policy of the current administration. In 2019, on his page on the social network X (ex. Twitter) the head of state called Powell one of the main enemies of the United States, along with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Nevertheless, in 2022, Powell was confirmed for a second term as chairman of the Fed.
Jerome Powell — Criminal prosecution
In January 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice initiated a criminal investigation into Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term of office expires in May of the same year. The head of the regulator, who is suspected of embezzling funds during the renovation of the headquarters of the Central Bank.
The investigation, which includes an analysis of Powell's public statements and a review of expense reports, was authorized in November by District of Columbia Attorney Jeanine Pirro. According to The New York Times, Pirro is a longtime Trump ally, and the investigation itself represents a "major new legal front" against the Fed chairman.
Powell himself said that the US Department of Justice was threatening him with criminal charges.
"On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas, threatening criminal charges in connection with my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June. These statements, in particular, concerned a multi—year project to reconstruct the historical buildings of the Federal Reserve," he said in an address published on the regulator's website.
According to him, the pressure from the presidential administration is exerted due to the Fed's interest rate policy. At the same time, Powell stressed that the regulator sets rates based on public interests, not the political preferences of the head of state.
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