Federal Reserve watchdog finds no criminal violations for building renovation cost overruns

Trump criticized $2.4bn rehab amid attempts to pressure then Fed chair Jerome Powell into lowering interest rates

The Federal Reserve’s internal watchdog said on Wednesday that the agency has broadly mismanaged an expansive building renovation project but did not find any criminal violations, as alleged by Trump administration prosecutors.

The Fed’s inspector general said that a variety of missteps by its board of governors inflated the cost of the $2.4bn renovation. The board did not secure a comprehensive cost estimate at the beginning of the project, nor did it nail down a maximum overall cost, a step that could have forced the building contractor to absorb the impact of inflation, the IG said in a 120-page report. Prices spiked after construction began in 2022.

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Source: The Guardian World