Explained: Lisa Cook’s three houses at the center of the battle to remove the Trump Fed

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook legal battle against the President Donald Trump based, in part, on three mortgages he acquired before joining the nation’s central bank.

The mortgages, tied to properties in Michigan, Georgia and Massachusetts, looked closely at whether Cook misrepresented how the properties would be used — as primary residences or otherwise. Trump brought up those allegations in his attempt to remove him from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, saying they were the reason for his dismissal.

The Supreme Court ultimately ruled 5-4 that Cook could continue as Fed governor while his separate lawsuit challenged his ouster funds.

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Cook challenged Trump’s attempt to fire him in federal court, saying the move was illegal and threatened the Federal Reserve’s independence. His lawsuit, filed on August 28, did not address allegations that he listed two homes as primary residences on loan documents.

The allegations came from Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee who oversees the federal agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Pulte, who is now Acting Director of National Intelligence, linked Cook to three properties that were sent to the Department of Justice, which later confirmed it had opened a criminal investigation into alleged fraud on housing applications.

The loans cited in the Justice Department investigation were issued in 2021, before former President Joe Biden nominated Cook to the Federal Reserve Board.

At issue were the optional terms that come with primary residence loans, which lenders generally consider lower risk than loans for vacation homes or rentals.

Cook disclosed all three loans in a financial filing with the US Office of Government Ethics in June 2025, listing them alongside his income, retirement accounts and investments.

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Three bills Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook listed in her June 2025 fiscal disclosure report. (US Office of Government Policy/Fox News Digital)

The filing also showed that Cook earned more than $50,000 a year in rent from his Cambridge, Massachusetts, condominium. Pulte alleged in his DOJ filing that Cook represented the Cambridge condominium as a second home instead of an investment, despite reporting rental income from the unit.

Cook bought the condo in 2002 while he was a professor at Harvard University. In this property, you received a 15-year loan for $361,000 at a rate of 2.5% in April 2021.

Two months later, Cook received the money to buy a three-bedroom house in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A 15-year loan of $203,000 at 2.87% through the University of Michigan Credit Union covers the 1,800-square-foot property. During that time, he taught economics and international relations at Michigan State University, about an hour’s drive away.

He also received a $540,000, 30-year mortgage on a luxury home above the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

The loan, issued by Bank Fund Staff Federal Credit Union, has an interest rate of 3.25%.

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Google Map view of the Four Seasons hotel and condominiums in Atlanta, Georgia. (Google Earth)

In that loan agreement, Cook “guaranteed that the property will serve as his primary residence within 60 days of the loan being disbursed and will serve as his primary residence throughout the year,” according to Pulte’s referral letter to the Department of Justice.

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Cook has not publicly explained why both Michigan and Georgia were designated as his primary residence.

His attorney, Abbe Lowell, denied the allegations in a Sept. 2 filing, writing that Cook “did not commit mortgage fraud.”