Overview
- Cook’s lawyer Abbe Lowell sent a detailed letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and special attorney Ed Martin asserting the referral is baseless and the mortgage applications were accurate.
- The submission argues that properties in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Georgia were listed as primary residences at different times because Cook relocated for positions at Harvard, Michigan State, Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
- Lowell acknowledges an inadvertent 2021 notation listing an Atlanta condo as a primary residence but cites another loan document in the same file identifying it as a vacation home to rebut any claim of intent to defraud.
- The Justice Department review stems from an August referral by FHFA Director Bill Pulte, and Cook continues to serve on the Federal Reserve Board under a Supreme Court order with arguments set for January 2026.
- President Donald Trump relied on the allegations to attempt the first-ever removal of a sitting Fed governor, and Pulte has lodged similar mortgage-fraud referrals concerning Letitia James, Adam Schiff, and Eric Swalwell.