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The Justice Department has launched a criminal probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook — issuing subpoenas in both Georgia and Michigan as part of an investigation into alleged mortgage fraud, The Post has learned.
The investigation, first reported on by the Wall Street Journal, centers on whether Cook allegedly committed fraud by listing more than one property as a primary residence when she applied for mortgages.
A grand jury in Atlanta is looking into Cook and “it’s likely an indictment could come,” a source familiar with the matter told The Post.
Cook owns properties in Michigan and Georgia, as well as Massachusetts.
The probe follows a criminal referral from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte after he alleged Cook engaged in mortgage fraud before she joined the Fed in 2022, potentially to secure lower interest rates.
President Trump cited the allegations when he moved to fire her last week, accusing her of engaging in “deceitful and criminal conduct in a financial matter.”
In response, Cook — who insisted Trump has “no authority” to do so — filed a lawsuit challenging his effort to oust her.
Cook argued in one legal filing that she had already listed mortgages on three properties on forms that she submitted to the White House and US Senate during the vetting process — and any inconsistencies were known when she was confirmed.
DC US District Judge Jia Cobb is weighing whether to grant Cook’s emergency request to block her termination after a hearing Friday where her lawyer Abbe Lowell argued it was simply a “clerical error.”
Lowell claimed that Cook was being targeted as part of Trump’s effort to force the Fed to lower interest rates.
Since Trump failed in forcing Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut rates, he “took a swing at the next person at the plate,” Lowell said at the hearing. “She won’t go along with any interest rate drop.”
But DOJ lawyer Yaakov Roth said if the misstatements were intentional then the conduct is criminal, and at the very least the inconsistencies were negligent — making her unfit for the post and giving Trump grounds to sack her for cause.
Roth also said it was irrelevant whether Cook disclosed the papers during her confirmation.
The probe is being conducted by Ed Martin, the special assistant US attorney appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi to assist with mortgage fraud investigations involving public officials, sources said.
The US Attorneys’ offices in the Northern District of Georgia and the Eastern District of Michigan are also involved.
Cook’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to The Post Thursday morning.
With Post wires
