US Fed Governor Cook offers detailed defence in mortgage fraud case

The attorneys for former US Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook have provided the first thorough defense of mortgage applications that led to President Donald Trump’s decision to fire her, contending that apparent errors in loan documents were either accurate at the time or were “inadvertent notations” that couldn’t be considered fraud given other information made to her lenders.

Cook has denied any wrongdoing, but until Monday, neither she nor her legal team had fully refuted allegations that William Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), made in August.

The US Supreme Court has so far blocked Trump’s firing attempt, and she has filed a lawsuit against her removal in court. The US Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case in January.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said it “does not comment on current or pending litigation, including matters that may be an investigation.”

Cook’s lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote in a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi that “even the most flimsy look at the facts” failed in the criminal references Pulte made against her.

According to the letter, the two separate criminal referrals Pulte made fail to establish any proof that Cook had purposefully deceived her lenders by obtaining mortgages for three properties in Michigan, Georgia, and Massachusetts.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Lowell also claimed Pulte intentionally targeted Trump’s political foes while disguising similar allegations against Republican officials.

Lowell claimed that Pulte’s other recent actions “undercut his criminal referrals regarding Governor Cook.” The acting inspector general of Fannie Mae, one of the mortgage-finance giants under the control of FHFA, was recently fired, along with several other internal watchdogs.

The letter also cited a recent Reuters article that claimed the White House fired acting FHFA inspector general Joe Allen immediately after he attempted to provide key discovery documents to federal agents in the Eastern District of Virginia, who were pursuing an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

After Pulte referred her to the Justice Department, James was also charged with bank fraud and lying to her lender. She has entered not guilty and is requesting that the case be dismissed on grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution.

Bondi named Ed Martin, the Justice Department’s pardon officer, as a special assistant US attorney to assist with public figures’ inquiries into mortgage fraud. He is also handling Cook’s case.