Amid an outcry about Federal Reserve officials owning and trading individual securities, an in-depth look by CNBC at officials' financial disclosures found three who last year held assets of the same type the Fed itself was buying, including Chairman Jerome Powell.

None of these holdings or transactions appeared to violate the Fed's code of conduct.

In response to CNBC questions asked in the process of our research, a Fed spokesperson released a statement Thursday saying Powell ordered a review last week of the Fed's ethics rules surrounding "permissible financial holdings and activities by senior Fed officials.".

"To think that such trading is acceptable because it is supposedly allowed by Fed's current policies only highlights that the Fed's policies are woefully deficient," Kelleher told CNBC.