AP Photo/Rick Scuteri
Fox News personality Sean Hannity.
- A report from The Guardian found public records that link Fox News host Sean Hannity to shell companies that spent $90 million on more than 870 homes.
- The US Department of Housing and Urban Development apparently granted Hannity loans to buy at least two of the buildings.
- Hannity reportedly bought dozens of foreclosed properties at a discount while criticizing the US foreclosure rate under former President Barack Obama.
The Guardian reported Sunday that it reviewed thousands of public records that link Fox News host Sean Hannity to a group of shell companies that spent at least $90 million over the past 10 years on more than 870 homes in seven states.
Hannity mentioned his real estate activity in his defense of his relationship with President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, after it was revealed in court last week that Hannity was Cohen's previously secret client.
Cohen is being investigated on suspicion of bank fraud, wire fraud, and election law violations. Investigators with the FBI and Southern District of New York seized documents and records in raids of Cohen's home, office, and hotel room on April 9.
According to The Guardian, Hannity's attorney didn't deny that the Fox News personality is the owner behind the shell companies. Fox didn't give the paper a comment.
Hannity also reportedly purchased discounted properties that had been involved in bank foreclosures, which on television and Twitter he blamed former President Barack Obama's policies for making increasingly common.
The US Department for Housing and Urban Development reportedly granted Hannity loans to help fund mortgages worth $17.9 million to help purchase two Georgia apartment buildings. The department, under Trump appointee Ben Carson, recently increased the value of those loans by $5 million, according to The Guardian.
Hannity's real estate attorney Christopher Reeves told The Guardian in an email these previously confidential holdings are not a cause for red flags on Hannity's activity.
"I doubt you would find it very surprising that most people prefer to keep their legal and personal financial issues private," Reeves told the Guardian. "Mr Hannity is no different."