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The Trump administration has accused Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud, a federal crime. But there’s still a lot we don’t know.
The Justice Department last week said it plans to investigate Cook after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte alleged in a letter that she claimed two properties — a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a condo in Atlanta — as her primary home addresses within two weeks of purchasing each with financing. Pulte accused her of having “falsified bank documents and property records.”
A CNN review of mortgage documents shows that Cook did take out mortgages for two properties, both of which were listed as her principal residence. However, it’s not known why she did so or if she did so intentionally.
President Donald Trump and his allies have ramped up attacks on Cook, a Michigan State University economist appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022, as part of a campaign to pressure the Fed to lower interest rates.
Trump on Friday told reporters he planned to fire Cook if she didn’t resign. The president can fire a Fed board member, but only for cause.
In response to Pulte’s accusations, Cook said in a statement that she has “no intention of being bullied to step down from my position.”
“I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve, and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts,” she said.
Here’s what we know — and what we don’t.
Questions surround two primary residences and a third mortgage
Listing a property as a “primary” residence can come with advantages. Borrowers can qualify for lower interest rates for a primary residence, saving money over the life of a loan, according to real estate company Redfin.
In mortgage documents filed in 2021 and reviewed by CNN, Cook pledged to live in her Ann Arbor home as her primary residence for at least one year, unless her lender agreed otherwise or unforeseen circumstances arose.
Just two weeks later, she made the same pledge in mortgage documents for her Atlanta condo, according to records reviewed by CNN.
Under IRS rules, a person can claim only one primary residence, the place they live most of the time, per year. The Fed declined to comment on CNN’s request asking if Cook is currently based in Washington and whether she rents or owns in the area.
It is unclear whether Cook informed the Ann Arbor lender that she intended to designate another property as her primary residence in the same year.
The University of Michigan Credit Union, which issued Cook’s 2021 loan for the Ann Arbor home, did not respond to a request for comment. Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union, which issued the loan to Cook for her Atlanta condo, did not respond to multiple attempts for comment either.
The Fed declined to share whether there were extenuating circumstances that would have required Cook to designate a second primary residence two weeks after designating the first one.
“If mortgage fraud is proven and the case proceeds to sentencing, it’s typically charged as a federal crime,” said Patrick Delahunty, a former federal prosecutor who now works as an attorney focused on white-collar criminal investigations. “The sentence would depend upon the loss suffered by the bank or lender that extended the loan.”
In Cook’s case, the details aren’t clear and very little information has been publicly released. Delahunty said that to prove mortgage fraud, prosecutors would need to show that either the Michigan or Georgia lenders would have made a different decision if Cook had listed one of the properties as a secondary residence.
He added that Cook may have simply erred by designating both homes as her primary residence, noting that the complexity of the mortgage process is often used as a defense in such cases.
“The false statement would have to be intentional at the time it was made,” he said.
On Thursday, Pulte claimed that he was also probing a third property owned by Cook but provided no further details on its location or any alleged wrongdoing.
Pulte also pointed to Cook’s latest financial disclosure, which shows she took out three mortgages in 2021. Two of them, one with Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union and another with Members First Mortgage, are listed as personal residences. A third mortgage, also with Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union, is listed as an investment property.
Having two properties listed as “personal residences” isn’t evidence of wrongdoing. The term differs from “primary residence.” A person may have multiple personal residences, but only one can count as their primary home.
Cook’s latest financial disclosures do not list the University of Michigan Credit Union as a mortgage lender, though one of her loans may have since been transferred to another lender. Members First Mortgage did not respond to a request for comment.
The financial disclosures of government officials, which are required by law, don’t have to include addresses for any mortgages listed. It’s unclear which loan belongs to which property — and a single property can sometimes have multiple mortgages.
The attacks on Cook are an extension of the Trump administration’s intense pressure campaign against the politically independent Fed — and other perceived enemies of the president.
In July, Trump suggested that a $2.5 billion renovation plan at the Fed’s Washington, D.C. headquarters might be sufficient cause to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Pulte, Trump’s FHFA Director, has also called for mortgage fraud investigations into Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In a statement, Schiff’s attorney, Preet Bharara, called the mortgage fraud investigation “the very definition of weaponization of the justice process.” James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, said the investigation against her was “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration’s carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.”
Those investigations have been led by Ed Martin, a Justice Department lawyer who was recently named the Special Attorney for Mortgage Fraud. Like Pulte, Martin has been a reliable attack dog for the Trump administration.
A Fed official can be fired only by the president for “cause,” which is generally interpreted to mean for malfeasance or a dereliction of duty.
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