Fed's Lacker leaves U.S. central bank over role in Medley leak

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker left the U.S. central bank on Tuesday after saying a conversation he had with a Wall Street analyst in 2012 may have disclosed confidential information about Fed policy options.

"It was never my intention to reveal confidential information," Lacker said in a statement describing an Oct 2, 2012 conversation with an analyst from Medley Global Advisors.

The next day, Medley Global Advisors unveiled details of a September Fed policy-setting meeting, one day ahead of the publication of the central bank's own record of the discussions.

At the Fed meeting, officials laid the groundwork for the massive bond-buying stimulus they were to roll out later that year. Early knowledge of that discussion could have given traders an unfair edge.

Lacker, who said his departure from the Fed was effective on Tuesday, said he may have broken a policy "which prohibits providing any profit-making person or organization with a prestige advantage over its competitors."

The Medley report triggered furor in the U.S. Congress, becoming a source of friction between the central bank and lawmakers and leading to a criminal investigation.

In May 2015, then Financial Services Committee chair Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who has called for stricter Congressional oversight of the central bank, subpoenaed Fed documents and communications related to the leak.

(Reporting by Jason Lange and Howard Schneider; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)