The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation of fired Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook amid allegations of submitting fraudulent information to get favorable mortgage loans for two residential properties, several media outlets reported on Thursday. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo
The Justice Department has begun investigating fired Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook for alleged mortgage fraud while she challenges her recent firing.
The DOJ opened a criminal investigation into alleged mortgage fraud by Cook after she challenged her recent firing by the Trump administration in federal court, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today reported on Thursday.
The DOJ has issued subpoenas to learn more about properties owned by Cook in Michigan and Georgia while investigating whether she provided fraudulent information while securing mortgages to buy them, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Attorneys for Cook called the investigation an attempt to justify President Donald Trump’s recent firing of Cook.
“Predictably and recognizing the flaws in challenging the flaws in challenging their illegal firing of governor Cook, the administration is scrambling to invent new justifications for its overreach,” Cook’s attorneys told ABC News.
Attorney Abbe Lowell is among those representing Cook and called the Justice Department “perhaps the most politicized in American history” and said it will “do whatever President Trump demands,” ABC News reported.
Lowell said Cook’s legal team is addressing concerns regarding how she described her two residential properties in mortgage documents and said the matter does not rise to the level of fraud.
Director of U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte in August accused Cook of submitting “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms” for properties that she bought in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Atlanta.
“This has included falsifying residence statuses” for the two properties, Pulte said in an Aug. 15 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Special Attorney for Mortgage Fraud Ed Martin.
When asked how Pulte was made aware of the alleged fraudulent activity by Cook, he refused to disclose the source, CNBC reported.
