A U.S. District Court judge on Monday dismissed a legal challenge by an investment fund that would have required the Federal Reserve to open its interest rate meeting this week to the public.

The ruling found that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is not a government agency and is not subject to the federal Sunshine Act, which requires public meetings, despite Azoria Capital's contrary claim in a lawsuit.

The FOMC is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday.



Azoria asked Judge Beryl Howell of the federal court in Washington, D.C., to issue a temporary restraining order closing the meetings to the public.

Howell’s decision, which upheld the FOMC’s half-century-old practice of meeting behind closed doors, came shortly after she questioned whether the lawsuit was a publicity stunt by Azoria to drum up interest in a new investment fund.

Howell noted that a court filing by Azoria last week mentioned that the company's CEO, James Fishback, an ally of President Trump, discussed the lawsuit in an interview with Fox Business.

"I did notice that this was very unusual," Howell said of the interview. "I've never seen anything like this in a certification like this."

“That makes me think: Are you filing ... a lawsuit to promote a new fund?” she said.

"I mean, the courts are very, very busy, and using litigation as a business strategy to get publicity or generate interest in a new investment fund is not a particularly popular approach."

Azoria's attorney, Anne Mackin, responded: "That is not the purpose, your honor."

"The purpose of including that in the certificate of service is that Local Code 65.1 requires us to list all the efforts, all the things that happened, to try to advise the other party on the litigation," Mackin said.

"So, including that in the certificate is just to emphasize that we emailed these people, but, you know, we didn't receive a response," the attorney said.

Like Trump, Fishback has been critical of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's refusal to cut interest rates.

"I am deeply concerned that the FOMC, under the leadership of Federal Reserve Chairman Powell, is maintaining high interest rates, undermining President Trump and his economic agenda and harming American citizens and the U.S. economy," Azoria said in the lawsuit.

"Federal Reserve counsel concedes that tomorrow's FOMC meeting is in fact being held jointly with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and that it is in fact being governed by the Sunshine Act," Fishback said in a statement on X after Howell's ruling.

Fishback said: "Azoria believes that the joint meeting of the FOMC and the Board of Governors may be an attempt to circumvent the Sunshine Act and deprive Americans of their legal right to understand the actual actions of the Federal Reserve. Azoria looks forward to the continuation of this case to fight for transparency and accountability for all Americans."