Judge: Fed Must Fess Up

The Federal Reserve must make public the companies taking part in its emergency lending program after losing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The Fed has refused to disclose which firms are receiving money, saying doing so could cause bank runs and unsettle shareholders. Bloomberg LP sued for the information in November. On Monday, a Manhattan judge gave the Fed five days to turn over the documents. It's unclear whether the central bank will appeal the decision. "When an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars were lent to financial institutions in unprecedented ways and the Federal Reserve refused to make public any of the details of its extraordinary lending, Bloomberg News asked the court why U.S. citizens don't have the right to know," explained the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News.