Lisa Cook’s financial house is on fire. Naturally, there is a Michigan angle to the story. Because there’s always a Michigan angle to the story.

Cook, a governor with the Federal Reserve Bank, has a bank loan on a “secondary” home in Massachusetts, which the Trump administration alleges she rents out full-time. A judge might call that mortgage fraud.

There cannot be two sets of rules: one for the elites who scam their way into favorable financial terms and another for the rest of us.

Cook also owns a condo in Atlanta, which she claims is her primary residence on banking and government documents. The Trump administration alleges there is evidence that she rents that one out, too. And that also could be mortgage fraud.

But Cook also has a third home in Ann Arbor, which she also lists as her primary residence on banking and government papers. Lisa must be living in Ann Arbor in the tidy brick house with a columned portico on Jackson Avenue, right?

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I stopped by the house last week. The glass in the storm door was filthy with neglect. A metal lockbox — the kind used by realtors — hung on the door knob. From the porch, I could see a figure sitting at the dining room table. When I knocked, the door slightly cracked open, only to reveal a white man partially visible behind the filthy glass.

“I’m a reporter,” I told the figure, who did not undo the chain. “I was wondering if Lisa Cook lives here. Or do you rent?”

“No, we’re just renters here.” He made it clear he didn’t feel comfortable with a reporter on the deteriorating porch. “You’ll have to talk to the owner.”

“OK,” I said. “Is it you just living here?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Just renting?” I asked again.

“No comment.”

“I’m sorry?”

It was difficult to hear. The traffic was crackling like an old transistor radio. There was a bus stop nearby.

“You’ll have to talk to the owner of the house.”

And with that, the interview was over. The chain rattled. The door closed, and someone pulled the curtains tight.

It’s hard to believe Cook got confused over her mortgage paperwork. Cook is a financial sophisticate, a member of the board of governors of the world’s most powerful central bank. A bank that sets interest rates that influence the cost of financing a home, mind you.

All three mortgages were taken out by Cook in 2021, all within a timespan of two months, three weeks, and four days. In her 2025 government ethics filings, Cook claimed two of the properties are her primary residences and the Massachusetts dwelling is an income property.

That’s cheating. Trump fired her last week for “cause,” and two criminal referrals against Cook have been referred to the Department of Justice. For her part, Cook is suing over her firing.

Trump is accused of attacking a prominent black woman who refuses to lower interest rates as Trump has demanded.

Perhaps.

As far as my motivations go, I simply try to hold the powerful to account. When it comes to questions of residency and real estate, you may have seen me on the porches of two Detroit mayors, a current mayoral candidate, a county executive, a county commissioner, a supreme court justice, a circuit court judge, a district court judge, a member of Congress, a fire commissioner, a prominent minister, and a major political party treasurer, just to name but a dozen. These people were black, white, male, and female. Doesn’t matter to me.

We cannot have two sets of rules: one for the elites who scam their way into favorable financial terms and another for the rest of us who endure audits, foreclosures, and repossession.

Cook has three basic questions to answer:

1. Was she renting the properties when she was supposed to be sleeping at them?
2. Did she claim rental income on her tax forms?
3. And where does she actually live?

Because it sure the heck ain’t Ann Arbor.

Editor's note: A version of article appeared originally in the Michigan Enjoyer.