Pulte urges AG Bondi to investigate Fed’s Lisa Cook for mortgage fraud

The call for Cook to resign comes shortly after FHFA Director Bill Pulte urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Cook, alleging she may have committed mortgage fraud by signing two primary-residence agreements within weeks of each other in 2021.

Pulte wrote a letter, seen first by Bloomberg News, to Bondi and DOJ official Ed Martin on Aug. 15, alleging that Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”

Pulte also posted the official referral letter on social media platform, X, along with several other posts calling for Cook’s resignation.

The letter claims that on June 18, 2021, Cook obtained a $203,000, 15-year mortgage from the University of Michigan Credit Union for a property in Ann Arbor. The loan required her to occupy the home as her primary residence for at least one year.

Less than two weeks later, on July 2, 2021, she closed on a $540,000, 30-year mortgage in Georgia, which carried a similar one-year, primary-residence clause.

The letter contains copies of mortgage documents signed by Cook, along with what appears to be a 2022 rental listing for the Georgia property, posted a little over a year after she purchased it.

Pulte alleges Cook later listed the Georgia property for rent, raising questions about whether the loans were used under false pretenses. The referral also claims she may have received more favorable loan terms by certifying both homes as owner-occupied.

On Wednesday, Pulte spoke via phone call on CNBC about the allegations and said that they are grounds for Cook’s being fired. “I don’t understand how she can be in charge of setting interest rates for our country and here she is, potentially lying on her applications to get better interest rates,” he said. “I think she has to resign or she will be fired.”

Pulte also shared that Cook has a property in Massachusetts that they are investigating, but nothing has been confirmed.

“My argument is very simple: there can be no mortgage fraud. This came across our desk, [and] I have a duty to report it. Don’t you want your mortgage regulator to report it, no matter who it is?”

No charges have been filed, and it’s unclear whether Bondi will pursue an investigation. The Federal Reserve and DOJ declined to comment.

“I learned from the media that FHFA Director William Pulte posted on social media that he was making a criminal referral based on a mortgage application from four years ago, before I joined the Federal Reserve,” shared Cook in a statement to HousingWire. “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet. I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”

If Cook were to resign, Trump would gain another opportunity to appoint a Fed governor — a move that could influence monetary policy at a time when he’s urging the central bank to aggressively cut interest rates.

The Trump administration has previously raised mortgage fraud allegations against other prominent Democrats, including California Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom are political adversaries.