Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook’s lawyers accused Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte of “cherry-picking” information from mortgage paperwork to build criminal referrals alleging fraud, according to a letter the central bank official’s lawyers sent Monday to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“The full record makes clear that what [Pulte] claims to be contradictions in loan applications were not contradictions at all but were cherry-picked, incomplete snippets of the full documents,” attorney Abbe Lowell wrote, adding that the referrals “fail on even the most cursory look at the facts.”
Pulte in August flagged two mortgage applications Cook filed in 2021 – roughly two weeks apart, for properties in Michigan and Georgia – with each seemingly indicating it would be her principal residence.
Pulte alleges Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”
President Donald Trump, in turn, used Pulte’s criminal referral as the basis of his attempt to fire Cook. The Fed governor sued – and her lawyers argued Trump’s actions were a ruse to oust the Biden-era appointee from her post so he could install a board member who would vote to lower interest rates.
After two courts ruled against Trump, the matter went to the Supreme Court – which asserted the president could not fire Cook ahead of oral arguments in the case, now scheduled for Jan. 21.
Cook’s lawyers in September cited a separate mortgage-related document – a questionnaire submitted to the government ahead of her confirmation to work at the Fed – that listed the Michigan property as Cook’s “primary residence” and the Georgia address as her “2nd home.”
Lowell, in Monday’s letter, said the earlier application – in which the Georgia home was listed as a principal residence – was “at most an inadvertent notation.”
“Because Governor Cook submitted that document to the lender as well, it would be impossible to conclude that she intended to defraud the lender by inadvertently listing the property as her ‘Primary Residence’ elsewhere,” Lowell wrote.
Lowell wrote that Cook was raised in Milledgeville, Georgia, and sought to buy a home there for when she would visit family.
But Lowell also blasted Pulte.
“In cherry-picking one line from one document, Director Pulte has ignored critical context — and in doing so, has misled the public and [Justice Department] in his postings of incomplete mortgage documents on social media.”
The Justice Department has not filed any charges against Cook in the matter. In a statement Monday, the DOJ said it “does not comment on current or prospective litigation including matters that may be an investigation.”
Cook is not the only Democratic official Pulte is accused of targeting – particularly using mortgage fraud allegations.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was indicted last month in alleged mortgage fraud, asserted Monday in a court filing that administration officials have made the FHFA a “weapon” to use against “President Trump’s enemies.” James further equated certain Trump administration officials’ actions to “outrageous government conduct.”
Lowell said using entities under the FHFA’s purview to selectively and publicly investigate Trump’s political enemies “gives rise to the unmistakable impression that [Pulte] has been improperly coordinating with the White House to manufacture flimsy predicates to launch these probes.”
Further, an overreliance on criminal referrals “undercut[s]” the referral against Cook, Lowell said.
