Back
US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia Opens Criminal Probe Into Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell Over $2.5B HQ Project

US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia Opens Criminal Probe Into Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell Over $2.5B HQ Project

The DOJ’s Jan. 13 subpoena to Powell intensifies a politically charged investigation he says threatens Fed independence over its refusal to align interest rates with presidential demands.

Fact Check
The assessment is primarily based on a single, highly authoritative and perfectly relevant source. The news article from a financial publication, livemint.com, directly states that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia has launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell concerning the headquarters project. This source explicitly supports every element of the claim.None of the other sources contradict this information. The majority of the provided sources are irrelevant, discussing the figure '$2.5 billion' in completely unrelated contexts, such as an FTC settlement with Amazon, a bank merger, or local projects. One very low-authority source mentions the Federal Reserve's renovation project but provides no information about a criminal probe.Given the presence of one strong, direct piece of evidence and the complete absence of any conflicting reports among the provided sources, the statement is assessed as likely true with a high degree of confidence.
    Reference: 1
Summary

On Jan. 13, the Department of Justice issued a criminal subpoena to Fed Chair Jerome Powell in connection with the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation project. Powell said the investigation was triggered by the Fed’s refusal to adjust interest rates according to presidential preferences, arguing that it poses a direct threat to the central bank’s independence. This follows an earlier probe into Powell’s Senate testimony on the project’s budget, which has drawn political scrutiny.

Terms & Concepts