Federal Reserve Inspector General Finds No Criminal Evidence in Headquarters Renovation Project

The Federal Reserves internal watchdog found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the central banks $2.4bn renovation of its Washington headquarters, a project that became a flashpoint last year between the Fed and the Trump administration as the president pressed for lower interest rates. A report published on Wednesday by the Office of the Inspector General set out the findings. It said a series of missteps caused renovation costs to spiral from an initial budget of $1.3bn in 2020. At no point during our assessment did we identify any reasonable basis to believe a violation of federal criminal law occurred that would require a referral to the US attorney-general pursuant to the Inspector General Act, the OIG said. Additionally, while our report identifies deficiencies in the management of the renovation project and makes corrective action recommendations pursuant to the Inspector General Act, we did not identify administrative misconduct during our assessment.