Fed Governor Lisa Cook Hit With More Mortgage Fraud Allegations

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is facing escalating legal and political fallout after federal housing regulators issued multiple criminal referrals over alleged discrepancies in her mortgage and property filings.

According to The Daily Caller, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig acknowledged Friday that the case is “really problematic” for Cook, noting the seriousness of the evidence against her.

The head of the U.S. Federal Housing Agency, Bill Pulte, confirmed that a second criminal referral had been filed. He alleged that Cook misrepresented her Cambridge, Massachusetts condominium on her 2021 mortgage application, claiming it was a “second home,” only to later list it as an “investment/rental property” on a government ethics disclosure eight months later.

Pulte detailed the pattern of alleged misconduct on X, writing:

“Three strikes and you’re out,” accusing Cook of repeated false representations regarding properties in Cambridge, Atlanta, and Ann Arbor.

Pulte said Cook’s filings from 2022 to 2025 consistently described the Cambridge condo as an investment property, contradicting her original mortgage application. He further alleged that Cook falsely claimed her Atlanta condo as her primary residence while also declaring her Michigan home as her primary residence, and later listed her Ann Arbor residence as her home address while renting it out.

Such maneuvers could have given Cook access to more favorable loan terms, since lenders typically offer lower rates on primary or secondary homes compared to investment properties, which carry higher interest and down payment requirements.

Cook has admitted in court filings that documents were altered, but insists clerical mistakes were to blame. CNN’s Honig, however, dismissed that argument:

“There’s three properties, OK? Within a two-week stretch, 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 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 explained why:

“Because you get better interest rates, because you get better tax benefits.”

He added that Cook’s legal filings offered “no explanation of what she did, how this happened,” and dismissed her defense:

“That’s not gonna fly, because Lisa Cook is one of the most established, accomplished financial and economic experts in this country.”

President Donald J. Trump acted swiftly, firing Cook last week after receiving the criminal referrals. In a formal letter of dismissal, Trump invoked his constitutional authority:

“Pursuant to my authority under Article II of the Constitution of the United States and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, as amended, you are hereby removed from your position on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, effective immediately. I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position.”

Cook, a Biden appointee, has filed a lawsuit challenging her removal. The case, assigned to a Biden-appointed judge, names Trump, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Chairman Jerome Powell as defendants. Cook has retained Democrat attorneys Abbe Lowell and Norm Eisen, both well-known for defending Biden allies.

Pulte, meanwhile, released further documentation:

“We have obtained a document Lisa Cook submitted to the U.S. Government while serving as Federal Reserve Governor. In it, on February 28, 2023, she represents to the U.S. Government that the Atlanta property is her personal residence. However, Lisa Cook, as a then-sitting Fed Governor and six months earlier, on September 1, 2022, appears to have listed that same property for rent.”

He argued that the timing of her multiple loans suggested lenders were unaware of one another’s underwriting processes, a hallmark sign of occupancy fraud.

If proven, the allegations could carry not only mortgage fraud penalties but also tax fraud implications—serious charges that strike at the credibility of one of the Fed’s most controversial Biden-era appointments.