MOSCOW, June 28 Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus in 2023 were able to achieve a video call with the head of the US Federal Reserve System (FRS) Jerome Powell, introducing himself as Vladimir Zelensky, which was preceded by correspondence with his office using “obviously suspicious” email addresses, Bloomberg reports, citing emails and an investigation report conducted by US authorities.
«At no time during their two-week correspondence did the aide or any other Fed official raise questions or concerns, even though the alleged Ukrainian officials corresponded using email addresses that were clearly suspicious. Official government email accounts are not typically found in the .net and .team domains,» the agency reported on Friday.
As noted, on January 10, 2023, Powell's aide received an email from a person who at that time introduced himself as Volodymyr Zelensky's deputy head of office, Kirill Tymoshenko. The documents describe how the pranksters received the aide's address from an employee of the European Central Bank (ECB): «Tymoshenko» wrote that Zelensky would like to personally talk to Powell via video link and discuss common problems and plans.
According to the agency, Powell's aide and «Tymoshenko» agreed on a call for January 19, but it had to be rescheduled due to the Fed chief's positive COVID-19 test for the 24th of the same month. After the conversation, the pranksters wrote to Powell's aide and asked for the contact information of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, which was provided to them, the agency writes.
However, on February 10, Powell’s assistant decided to write to the office of ECB head Christine Lagarde in order to check information about letters from a person who introduced himself as Tymoshenko. As the agency points out, the office urged caution in response to this, explaining that the real Tymoshenko left his post on January 23, and also attaching a link to a page about him on Wikipedia.
According to the agency, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors soon filed a complaint with the US Office of Inspector General. The agency conducted an investigation and issued a report in late November 2023, concluding that the pranksters did not ask for “money, papers or other valuables” during the conversation, and that overall nothing illegal occurred.