A federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. reportedly admitted to a judge in private that his office didn’t find any evidence of a crime in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) fraud investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over a $2.5 billion renovation of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) headquarters.
According to an unsealed transcript of the Mar. 3 closed hearing, Chief Judge James Boasberg asked Assistant U.S. Attorney George Andrew Massucco, “What evidence is there of fraud or criminal misconduct in relation to the renovations?”
“We do not know at this time,” Massucco responded. “However, there are 1.2 billion reasons for us to look into it.”
The Washington Post first reported the details of the closed hearing on Mar. 24.
The investigation led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office focused on brief testimony by Powell before the Senate Banking Committee in Jun. 2025, where he was asked about cost overruns on the Fed’s costly building renovations.
CBS News reported that the most recent estimates are roughly $600 million more than a 2022 estimate of $1.9 billion.
Robert Hur, an attorney who represented the Fed board of governors, told Judge Boasberg during the Mar. 3 hearing, that the subpoenas were part of a pressure campaign following increasing tensions between Powell and President Trump about lowering interest rates.
"He clearly has very strong political motives to try to get lower interest rates, but because of the safeguards that have been erected by Congress around the Federal Reserve's independence when it comes to setting monetary policy, he can't get it," Hur told Judge Boasberg.
Eight days later, on Mar. 11, Judge Boasberg quashed government subpoenas directed at the Federal Reserve. Boasberg ruled that the government produced "essentially zero evidence" to accuse Powell of a crime.
"The Court is thus left with no credible reason to think that the Government is investigating suspicious facts as opposed to targeting a disfavored official," the judge wrote in his Mar. 11 ruling.
