Federal Reserve Employed ‘Insufficient’ Oversight of $2.5 Billion Renovations
By Patti Mohr, writer and editor-at-large
October 3, 2026— Following the release of an inspector general report into renovations at the Federal Reserve under former chair Jerome Powell’s leadership, the case is effectively closed and will not be reopened. The Fed’s watchdog concluded that the central bank failed to manage the costs of the five-year construction project effectively. It produced a 121-page report detailing cost overruns and insufficient oversight and includes a letter by the current Fed Chair Kevin Warsh to make changes.
In April, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, closed a criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve that the DOJ started in January. The department’s subpoenas of the central bank were widely seen as an escalation of tensions between President Donald Trump and Powell over interest rate policies.
Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed on Friday the criminal probe remains closed.
“Making mistakes and not having any sort of oversight over folks doing billion-dollar projects isn’t necessarily a crime,” Blanche told Bloomberg News. “We are not reopening a criminal investigation into him.”
