More trouble may be piling up for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
Late Thursday, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced a second criminal referral to the Justice Department, asking for an investigation into Cook’s purchase of a condominium in Massachusetts in 2021.
“[Three] strikes and you’re out,” FHFA Director Bill Pulte wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
3 strikes and you’re out.
Today, U.S. Federal Housing sent a 2nd Criminal Referral in the matter of Lisa D. Cook, related to a mortgage on a 3rd property and alleged misrepresentations about her properties to the United States Government during her time as Governor of the… pic.twitter.com/TAH68Mia23
— Pulte (@pulte) August 29, 2025
The referral is “related to a mortgage on a 3rd property and alleged misrepresentations about her properties to the United States Government during her time as Governor of the Federal Reserve,” Pulte wrote.
Pulte’s first criminal referral, announced Aug. 20, related to a condo Cook had purchased in Atlanta, which she represented as a “primary residence,” while also maintaining a “primary residence” in Michigan.
Loans for “primary residences,” as the Reuters news agency noted at the time, “can carry easier terms than those for second homes or investment properties.”
Something similar was at play in Cook’s purchase of the property in Cambridge, Pulte wrote in his post on the social media platform X.
“On April 7, 2021, Cook entered a 15-year mortgage for a condominium in Cambridge, MA, representing it as her ‘Second Home,’” he wrote. “Only eight months later, on December 1, 2021, Cook signed an ethics form with the U.S. Government that this property was an ‘investment/rental property’. In subsequent filings from 2022 to 2025, Cook consistently listed this property as an investment/rental property, not a second home.
“Representing the property as a second home may have allowed Cook to secure a lower ‘Second Home’ mortgage down payment and rates, as investment properties typically carry higher down payments and higher rates due to increased risk.”
Combined, the two cases raise serious questions about Cook’s dealings, Pulte wrote.
“These inconsistencies appear Cook made additional, multiple false representations, including to the U.S. Government, regarding the status of her mortgages and properties,” he wrote.
Pulte’s first criminal referral resulted in President Donald Trump first calling for Cook’s resignation.
Was Trump right to fire Lisa Cook?
He then fired her, but Cook has refused to step down, sparking a court battle that could determine the president’s powers over the Federal Reserve — the nation’s central bank that sets national interest rates.
Pulte’s new referral is likely to only deepen that struggle.
The interest in Cook’s finances also highlights allegations against other high-profile Democrats, such as Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York state Attorney General Letitia James.
Schiff has been accused of maintaining homes in California and Maryland while representing them both as “primary residences” for years.
James, who masterminded a complicated civil prosecution of Trump and his business in New York starting in 2022, has likewise been accused of misrepresenting a property she purchased in Norfolk, Virginia, as a “primary residence,” when her actual residence is in New York state.
The FBI is investigating.
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