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Bombshell Details Emerge In Federal Reserve Probe After Second Criminal Referral

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3 months ago

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Bombshell footage obtained by independent reporter Charlie LeDuff appears to indicate that a Michigan home listed as the “primary residence” for embattled Federal Reserve official Lisa Cook is currently being occupied by paying tenants.

Cook, who sits on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, was fired by President Trump last month in a move that is likely setting up a Supreme Court showdown. In a letter addressed to Cook, Trump argued that he has the power to fire her under the Federal Reserve Act due to allegations of mortgage fraud laid out by William J. Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

“For example, as detailed in the Criminal Referral, you signed one document attesting that a property in Michigan would be your primary residence for the next year.

“Two weeks later, you signed another document for a property in Georgia stating that it would be your primary residence for the next year,” the president continued. “It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second. It is impossible that you intended to honor both.”

Trump went on to claim that Cook’s “deceitful and potentially criminal conduct” exhibits “the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.”

While Cook has denied any wrongdoing, instead blaming her conduct on an “error,” legal analysts have found that explanation hard to swallow given her high-profile career in the financial industry. On Tuesday, the legal situation for Cook appeared to get much worse, as Pulte shared footage from independent reporter Charlie LeDuff knocking on the door of Cook’s Ann Arbor property, which is one of the buildings listed as her primary residence.

“There’s a key lock box right there. There’s a white man at the dining room table. It’s weird, I don’t think she’s married,” LeDuff remarked while waiting for an answer.

A man then answered the door, at which point LeDuff introduced himself and noted that the house is in the news. He then asked if the man was the homeowner, at which point the man indicated that “we’re just renting.”

“You’ll have to talk to the owner,” the apparent tenant added. LeDuff then repeated the question, at which point the unidentified man once again told him to “talk to the owner.”

Last week, Pulte filed a second criminal referral against Cook as she seeks to fight for her job in a high-profile lawsuit, which is likely to end up before the Supreme Court.

“As Director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency,” Pulte wrote in an August 28 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Special Attorney Edward Martin, “I reiterate the referral on August 15, 2025, and provide new information concerning a 3rd property for Lisa D. Cook (‘Cook’) and what appears to be multiple false representations to the United States Government by Cook while she was a Governor of the Federal Reserve.”

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig recently took issue with Cook’s claims of an “honest mistake” or an “error” in listing multiple properties as her primary residence.

“There is some suspicious activity here that’s really problematic by Lisa Cook. Let me just sort of try to bottom line it,” the legal analyst told his fellow panelists.

“There’s three properties, OK? Within a two -week stretch, she purchases, she gets a mortgage on a place in Michigan and says that’s her principal residence. Two weeks later, she gets a mortgage on a place in Atlanta, in Georgia and says that’s her primary residence. And now there’s a third place in Cambridge that she said was her secondary residence, but she’s actually renting it out.”

Honig went on to note that doing this would allow Cook to qualify for lower interest rates and better tax benefits. That can be worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he added.

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