By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook’s lawyer on Monday offered the first detailed defense of mortgage applications that gave rise to President Donald Trump’s move to fire her, saying apparent discrepancies in loan documents were either accurate at the time or an “inadvertent notation” that couldn’t constitute fraud given other disclosures to her lenders.
Cook has denied wrongdoing but until Monday neither she nor her legal team had responded in any detail to the fraud accusations first made this summer by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte.
She has challenged her removal in court, and the U.S. Supreme Court has for now blocked Trump’s firing attempt and will hear arguments in January.
A Department of Justice spokesperson said the department “does not comment on current or prospective litigation including matters that may be an investigation.”
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi seen by Reuters, Cook’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said the criminal referrals Pulte made against her “fail on even the most cursory look at the facts.”
The two separate criminal referrals Pulte made fail to establish any evidence that Cook intentionally deceived her lenders when she obtained mortgage loans for three different properties in Michigan, Georgia and Massachusetts, the letter said.
Lowell also accused Pulte of selectively targeting Trump’s political enemies while ignoring similar allegations against Republican officials, the Wall Street Journal reported. Reuters could not immediately obtain the letter or verify its contents.
Lowell said other recent conduct by Pulte “undercut his criminal referrals concerning Governor Cook.” That behavior includes the recent dismissal of the FHFA’s acting inspector general and several internal watchdogs at Fannie Mae, one of the mortgage-finance giants under FHFA control.
The letter also cited a recent article by Reuters which said the White House ousted the FHFA’s Acting Inspector General Joe Allen right after he attempted to provide key discovery material to federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia who are pursuing an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
James was charged with bank fraud and lying to her lender, also after Pulte made a referral to the Justice Department. She has pleaded not guilty, and she is seeking a dismissal of the case on multiple grounds, including vindictive and selective prosecution.
Cook’s case is being handled in part by Ed Martin, the Justice Department’s pardon attorney and weaponization czar whom Bondi named as a special assistant U.S. attorney to assist with mortgage fraud probes into public figures.
The case is still being investigated and no charges have been brought. The department is also separately investigating Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff, also at Pulte’s request.
(Reporting By Sarah Lynch;Editing by Dan Burns and Alistair Bell)
Comments