US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent once agreed to occupy two different houses as his “principal residence” at the same time, mortgage documents show — the same kind of contradictory pledges that President Donald Trump has been using to try to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
Bessent’s conflicting agreements obligated him to occupy homes in New York and Massachusetts as his main residence at the same time in 2007. But there’s no sign of any wrongdoing on his part, mortgage experts say. Rather, his case demonstrates that an incongruity in home-loan filings isn’t necessarily proof of fraud.
Other evidence from Bessent’s mortgages shows that his lender, Bank of America Corp., wasn’t relying on the pledges and never expected him to occupy both homes as primary residences.
WATCH: Bloomberg has learned that mortgage documents show Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent once claimed two homes as his “primary residence” at the same time in 2007.
Cook’s situation appears similar. She signed mortgage documents in 2021 for a home in Michigan and a condo in Atlanta, saying they would both be her primary residence for the next year. Both agreements, with different credit unions, were conditions for getting loans on the properties, of $203,000 and $540,000, respectively. But a document reviewed by Bloomberg News shows that the lender for Cook’s Georgia property wasn’t expecting her to live there full time. A loan estimate, issued by the credit union weeks before she got the mortgage, refers to it as a “vacation home.”