Federal officials at the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are investigating allegations that Bloomberg News journalists may have used Bloomberg terminals to gain access to former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s usage information.
CNBC says it has confirmed with a past Bloomberg employee that he was able to access such information; he said he did it “just for fun” and to demonstrate “how powerful” the terminals were. A Bloomberg spokesperson, however, denies these claims.
The Bloomberg terminal spying scandal erupted when the New York Post cited complaints by Goldman Sachs executives who said Bloomberg journalists were using the terminals, which Bloomberg charges $20,000 a year to rent, to snoop on them.
“You can basically see how many times someone has looked up news stories or if they used their messaging functions,” a Goldman employee told the Post. “It made us think, ‘Well, what else does [Bloomberg] have access to?'”
Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given up day-to-day operations but reportedly still owns 90% of the company.
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