By Allan Lengel
Joe Allen, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit and Denver, has been ousted by President Donald Trump from his position as internal watchdog for the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in Washington, D.C., which has targeted the administration’s foes with mortgage fraud investigations, Reuters reports.
Allen was the acting inspector general of the agency, which is headed by Bill Pulte, who has aggressively pursued Trump’s opponents for alleged mortgage fraud. Allen is a graduate of Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Township and the University of Michigan.
Reuters, citing three unnamed sources, reports that Allen’s ouster came as he was preparing to send a letter to Congress stating that the Federal Housing Finance Agency was not cooperating with the inspector general’s office.
Attempts by Deadline Detroit to reach Allen for comment on Wednesday were unsuccessful. The housing agency did not respond to Reuters’ emails or a call seeking comment.
Reuters reports that the Trump administration has fired or reassigned nearly two dozen agency watchdogs who oversee waste, fraud, and abuse. It has also defunded the group that supervises those offices.
Allen previously worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Detroit and Denver and later became chief of staff of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Washington during the Obama administration and Trump’s first term.
Thomas Brandon, former acting director of the ATF during that time, tells ticklethewire.com:
“I can honestly say that in my time in the Marine Corps and 40 years between government and the private sector, there is no one who matches the intelligence, integrity, and humility of Joe Allen.”
Pulte’s office helped indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud, even though interim U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert found there was not enough evidence to convict. Siebert was later ousted from that post and replaced by Trump’s personal attorney and aide, Lindsey Halligan, who went on to indict James for mortgage fraud.
Federal authorities allege that when James bought a house in Norfolk, Virginia, she told the mortgage broker it would be a second home in order to secure a lower interest rate, but she then used it as a rental property.
James has called the indictment “baseless.”
