The Federal Reserve's internal oversight agency found no evidence of criminal acts during the bank's $2.4 billion Washington headquarters renovation project. The project became the focus of controversy between the Federal Reserve and the Trump administration last year, when the president was pressuring to lower interest rates. The findings of the investigation were revealed in a report released by the Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday. According to the report, a series of mistakes led to a sharp rise in renovation costs from the initial budget of $1.3 billion in 2020. The Office of the Inspector General stated, “During our assessment, we did not find any reasonable basis for believing that a violation of federal criminal law had occurred, requiring referral to the US Attorney General under the Inspector General Act. Furthermore, although our report identified deficiencies in the management of the refurbishment project and proposed corrective measures based on this, we did not find administrative misconduct during the evaluation process.”

The Federal Reserve's internal oversight agency found no evidence of criminal acts during the bank's $2.4 billion Washington headquarters renovation project. The project became the focus of controversy between the Federal Reserve and the Trump administration last year, when the president was pressuring to lower interest rates. The findings of the investigation were revealed in a report released by the Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday. According to the report, a series of mistakes led to a sharp rise in renovation costs from the initial budget of $1.3 billion in 2020. The Office of the Inspector General stated, “During our assessment, we did not find any reasonable basis for believing that a violation of federal criminal law had occurred, requiring referral to the US Attorney General under the Inspector General Act. Furthermore, although our report identified deficiencies in the management of the refurbishment project and proposed corrective measures based on this, we did not find administrative misconduct during the evaluation process.”