Fed Governor Accuses Trump Administration of 'Baseless' Mortgage Fraud Claims
Legal representatives for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook have launched a robust defence against allegations of mortgage fraud brought by the Trump administration, describing the claims as completely without foundation.
In a significant development on Monday, Cook's legal team accused the administration of selectively choosing discrepancies to support their case while ignoring contradictory evidence.
The Properties at the Heart of the Dispute
The controversy centres around three properties owned by Cook: a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan; a condominium in Atlanta, Georgia; and a property in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In a detailed letter addressed to US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Edward Martin, Cook's lawyer Abbe Lowell outlined for the first time the governor's comprehensive defence against the accusations.
Lowell stated that Cook's primary residence remains in Ann Arbor, where she has served as a professor at Michigan State University since 2005. Although currently on unpaid leave while serving on the Federal Reserve board, Cook intends to return to Ann Arbor once her term concludes.
Regarding the Atlanta condominium, purchased in 2021 to be near her family in Milledgeville, Georgia, Lowell argued that a single line on the mortgage application listing it as a primary residence was clearly "inadvertent" and an "isolated notation."
Other loan documents consistently identified the property as a vacation home, and Cook has accurately listed it as a "personal residence" in annual financial disclosures.
The Cambridge property, acquired before her move to Ann Arbor, has always been documented as a second home and rental property in mortgage paperwork.
Political Motivations and Double Standards Alleged
Lowell's letter specifically criticised William Pulte, a Trump ally and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), accusing him of using his position to target political opponents of the former president.
Pulte has similarly pursued mortgage fraud allegations against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, both prominent critics of Donald Trump.
The legal team highlighted what they described as a clear double standard in enforcement, noting that recent reporting has revealed four members of Trump's cabinet, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, had similar discrepancies in their mortgage documents without facing equivalent scrutiny.
"If one seemingly facial contradiction about several property documents were the basis for the mortgage fraud he claims, then one would expect that he would have made referrals based on the same types of documents about others," Lowell wrote.
The lawyer emphasised that proving criminal wrongdoing requires demonstrating intentional misrepresentation to defraud lenders, which he argues is absent in Cook's case.
The complete package of Governor Cook's materials clearly demonstrate that this does not amount to the type of criminal wrongdoing that Director Pulte and the president state it to be, Lowell concluded.
The legal battle continues as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments regarding Cook's removal in January, after she was briefly dismissed from her position as a Fed governor and voting member of the interest rate-setting board before being reinstated by the court.
