The Government Accountability Office announced an investigation into Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte after he referred several Democratic officials to the Justice Department for alleged mortgage fraud.
The investigation follows a November letter from leading Senate Democrats calling on the GAO to examine whether Pulte and FHFA employees “misused federal authority and resources” by making criminal referrals against New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Sen. Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and California Rep. Eric Swalwell. (RELATED: Trump To Congress On America’s Arguably Biggest Issue: Figure It Out)
The letter quotes former officials from the inspector general’s office and FHFA describing Pulte’s referral process as “bizarre,” “unusual” and “unheard of.” These former officials said the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General — not the FHFA director — should be primarily responsible for mortgage fraud investigations and criminal referrals.
In a September CNBC interview, Pulte said he received a “tip” but declined to reveal his “sources and methods.”
“We make referrals almost every day. Lisa Cook happened to be one of them,” Pulte said, before turning the questioning around. “I think we’re worried about the wrong thing. There’s an alleged crime here. Why aren’t we talking about the crime? Why are we blaming the investigators?”
Sam Antar of White Collar Fraud, a crime watchdog blog, told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday that he was investigating New York figures when he came across James’ alleged mortgage fraud.
The case against James was dismissed Nov. 24 after a federal judge ruled the prosecutors’ appointment was unlawful, according to the DCNF. However, a dismissal does not preclude future prosecution if a new prosecutor is appointed.
The GAO, established as an independent and nonpartisan investigative watchdog for Congress, accepted the Democrats’ request following standard procedures, a spokesperson told the Daily Caller.
“The first thing GAO does as any work begins is to determine the full scope of what we will cover and the methodology to be used. This can take a few months, and until that is done, we cannot provide any estimates on a completion date,” the spokesperson added.
All officials Pulte referred to the Justice Department have denied wrongdoing, according to NBC News.
The FHFA declined to comment.