By Kate Davidson 

Senators are seeking information about Obama-era meetings between Treasury and Federal Reserve officials and Maria Butina, the alleged Russian agent who pleaded guilty to conspiring to influence U.S. policy.

The Senate Finance Committee's Republican chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and top Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, sent letters Friday requesting all records relating to 2015 meetings with Ms. Butina involving then-Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and Nathan Sheets, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for international affairs at the time.

The letters cited a Reuters report that said the officials met with Ms. Butina and Alexander Torshin, who was then the deputy governor of the Russian central bank, to discuss U.S.-Russia relations. Mr. Torshin has since been targeted by U.S. Treasury sanctions against several government officials and allies of President Vladimir Putin over what Washington called "destabilizing activities," including seizing Crimea and menacing Ukraine.

"Given what is now known about them from public court filings, it is concerning that Ms. Butina and Mr. Torshin were able to gain access to high-level administration officials responsible for U.S. economic and monetary policy to reportedly discuss U.S. Russian economic relations," Messrs. Grassley and Wyden wrote in letters to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

The committee is requesting any records relating to the meetings, and any meetings between other officials at the two agencies and Ms. Butina or Mr. Torshin, or any meetings involving the Center for the National Interest, a Washington think tank that the senators said reportedly arranged the encounters with Messrs. Fischer and Sheets. The senators also asked for records of any communications Mr. Fischer and Mr. Sheets had with the Russians, and asked whether either official held a security clearance at the time of the meeting.

A Fed spokesman said the central bank had received the letter and would respond. A Treasury spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Fischer last summer confirmed Ms. Butina's presence at a meeting in April 2015, which she attended as an interpreter for Mr. Torshin.

"It was standard for members of the Federal Reserve Board to meet and talk with counterparts from other central banks," Mr. Fischer said at the time.

Write to Kate Davidson at kate.davidson@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 15, 2019 21:51 ET (02:51 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.