The property tax authority in Ann Arbor, Michigan, mentioned that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook hasn’t damaged guidelines for tax breaks on a house there that Cook declared her primary residence.
The discovering, which got here in response to a Reuters request that the town evaluate Cook’s property data, may increase Cook’s protection towards efforts by the Trump administration to take away her from the Federal Reserve board.
Ann Arbor has “no reason to believe” that Cook violated property tax guidelines, City Assessor Jerry Markey instructed Reuters. Cook has at occasions lived elsewhere and metropolis data point out she sought permission from Ann Arbor authorities to lease out the Michigan residence on a short-term foundation.
Temporary absence from the house or renting it out short-term would not disqualify her from a tax exemption in Ann Arbor, the tax official mentioned. “Living elsewhere temporarily does not necessarily make an owner ineligible for a principal residence exemption,” mentioned Markey.
The official’s remarks come because the administration of President Donald Trump is accusing the Fed governor of fraud associated to mortgages on the Ann Arbor residence and one other she bought in Atlanta. Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has spearheaded the trouble, denouncing Cook on social media and referring the matter to the Department of Justice, which launched an investigation.
At concern is whether or not Cook, whom Trump has sought to fireside from the Fed board, lied to her lenders when acquiring the 2 mortgages. The Trump administration, citing her mortgage contracts, has alleged that she improperly instructed each lenders that the mortgage was for a primary residence. By declaring a house as a primary residence, a home-owner can – however would not at all times – safe a greater rate of interest on the mortgage and, individually, can obtain reductions from native authorities on property taxes.
An appeals courtroom was expected to rule Monday on whether or not Cook can proceed in her job whereas litigation over Trump’s try to fireside her is pending. However the courtroom guidelines, a right away attraction to the Supreme Court is anticipated, including an additional complication to her standing for the Fed’s upcoming two-day gathering.
Reuters final week reported that Cook, in keeping with a mortgage estimate for the mortgage in Atlanta, had knowledgeable her lender that the property can be a “vacation home,” not a primary residence . In a social media publish after the information company’s story, Pulte wrote {that a} “vacation home” declare within the Atlanta mortgage paperwork may nonetheless be fraudulent if she finally secured the mortgage by declaring in any other case.
“That is extremely concerning,” Pulte wrote on X, “and in my opinion, evidences further intent to defraud.”
The full extent of Cook’s representations to her lenders stays unclear, together with any paperwork that will have modified the “vacation home” characterization by the time the mortgage was settled. Local officers in Georgia instructed Reuters that Cook by no means declared the house as a primary residence for tax functions there.
Cook has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In a written assertion on Monday, her attorneys mentioned: “The attempt to remove Governor Cook is based on cherry-picked social media posts from the FHFA Director that collapse under basic scrutiny.”
Since securing a mortgage for the Michigan residence in 2021, native property data present she received approval from the town to lease it out on a short-term foundation in October 2022 and once more in April 2024. Some cities, like Ann Arbor, require residence homeowners to acquire a license to lease out their residence, even on a short-term foundation.
In April 2025, months earlier than Pulte started publicly accusing her of fraud, Cook sought approval to listing the house as a long-term rental, in keeping with native data and metropolis officers. In July, she instructed the town she had enlisted a rental agency to handle the property, the officers mentioned.
Cook now has till the tip of the yr to revoke the tax exemption on the house, mentioned Markey, the Ann Arbor metropolis assessor.
The property tax data in each states, together with Cook’s “vacation home” disclosure in Atlanta, may very well be thought-about robust components in her protection, actual property and authorized specialists mentioned. For any conviction of mortgage fraud, which is rarely pursued as a criminal offense within the United States, they mentioned prosecutors must present she intentionally sought to deceive her lenders.
Paul Pelletier, a Washington-based former federal prosecutor who focused financial institution fraud, mentioned the Justice Department traditionally would solely pursue circumstances during which a monetary establishment suffered vital loss. “This would never have crossed my desk, let alone be prosecuted,” he mentioned, relating to the accusations towards Cook up to now.
The charges on Cook’s two mortgages present Cook did not take pleasure in reductions in contrast with prevailing charges out there to debtors when she negotiated the loans in 2021.
Her price on the 15-year mortgage on the Michigan property was 2.875%, versus a prevailing nationwide price in that interval starting from 2.23% to 2.45%, in keeping with Freddie Mac knowledge. And her price on the 30-year mortgage on her Atlanta property was 3.25%, versus a prevailing price on the time starting from 2.93% to three.04%, in keeping with Freddie Mac knowledge.