Powell Cleared of Wrongdoing in Fed Renovation Scandal
A report by the Federal Reserve's inspector general has found no evidence that Jerome Powell broke the law in managing the central bank's headquarters renovation project, which ballooned to a cost of $2.4 billion.
The review was sparked by criticism from President Donald Trump and his allies, who accused Powell of being criminally negligent in overseeing the project. However, the inspector general found no reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of federal criminal law had occurred.
The report did criticize the Fed's board for mismanaging the renovations project at several points, concluding that it 'could have better controlled costs and mitigated some of the significant construction cost increases.' The inspector general recommended that the Fed take seven corrective actions to address these issues.