The Federal Reserve's internal watchdog said Sept. 30 it found no evidence a multibillion-dollar project at the central bank's Washington headquarters violated federal law.
In a 120-page report, the Fed’s independent inspector general said that although poor project management likely increased the renovation's $2.5 billion price tag, "at no point during our evaluation did we find reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of federal criminal law had occurred."
"While our report outlines deficiencies in the management of the renovation project, resulting in our recommended corrective actions in accordance with the Inspector General Act, we did not identify administrative misconduct during our evaluation," the report said.
ends investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell
The pricey overhaul of the Fed's headquarters drew scrutiny from President Donald Trump and led to an ultimately short-lived Department of Justice criminal investigation into the central bank and its former Chair Jerome Powell, who remains on the Fed's Board of Governors.
At the time, former Fed chairs criticized the criminal inquiry into Powell as "an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine" the institution's independence. In a rare video statement, Powell himself said he viewed the probe as a “pretext," implying it was a response to the Fed’s unwillingness to set monetary policy based on the president’s preferences.
The DOJ dropped the investigation in April after Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, cited it as the reason he was withholding his support for Kevin Warsh's confirmation to replace Powell as the central bank's leader. After it was dropped, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the Fed's inspector general would look into the building cost overruns instead. Tillis voted in support of the nomination, and Warsh was sworn in in May.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watchdog finds no criminal misconduct in $2.5 billion Fed renovation
