Fed watchdog finds oversight flaws, no grounds for criminal referral

The Federal Reserve’s inspector general found serious management and oversight deficiencies in the central bank’s headquarters renovation but said the review found no grounds for a criminal referral or evidence of administrative misconduct. President Donald Trump responded by renewing his demand that Jerome Powell resign from the Fed’s Board and saying he had asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to review the report and determine what to do. The report, issued Wednesday, examined cost overruns and delays in renovating two Federal Reserve buildings in Washington. It put the project’s cost at roughly $2.4 billion, while Trump described it in a social media post as at least $2.5 billion. Those figures reflect different estimates and should not be treated as identical. The watchdog said deficiencies in project oversight contributed to the problems. It nevertheless concluded that its review found no reasonable grounds to believe a federal crime had occurred that required referral to the attorney general, and said it had identified no administrative misconduct. The findings do not establish wrongdoing by Powell, who led the Fed during much of the project.