Russian pranksters called Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, pretending to be Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, prompting an investigation, according to reports.
The call reportedly took place in January and recently surfaced on Russian state television, mocking the U.S. monetary policy chair, as first reported by Bloomberg News.
"Chair Powell participated in a conversation in January with someone who misrepresented himself as the Ukrainian president," a Fed spokesperson wrote in a statement. "It was a friendly conversation and took place in a context of our standing in support of the Ukrainian people in this challenging time. No sensitive or confidential information was discussed."
The pranksters were pro-Vladimir Putin scammers Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, The New York Times reported.
"People like me just want to support you in any way we can, but I have limited ways to do that in my professional job," Powell appears to tell who he thought was Zelenskyy, according to video shared on social media.
The pranksters have gotten to many Kremlin critics over the years, including Prince Harry; former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson; Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and author Stephen King.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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