The Donald Trump administration on Tuesday referred New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had targeted Trump, for potential prosecution over alleged mortgage fraud.
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte sent a criminal referral to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, stating that James had “falsified records” to get home loans for a property in Virginia that she claimed served as a her “principal residence” in 2023. At the same time, she served as a New York state prosecutor. The alleged falsification happened just “weeks before James began her civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization,” which she has claimed overinflated the values of many of the organization’s properties, the New York Post reported.
James’s civil fraud trial ended in a $454 million judgment; however, the Trump Organization is appealing the decision.
“Ms. James was the sitting Attorney General of New York and is required by law to have her primary residence in the state of New York — even though her mortgage applications list her intent to have the Norfolk, VA, property as her primary home,” the referral stated.
“It appears Ms. James’ property and mortgage-related misrepresentations may have continued to her recent 2023 Norfolk, VA property purchase in order to secure a lower interest rate and more favorable loan terms,” the referral continued.
The letter also noted that in 2001 James purchased a five-family property in Brooklyn, New York; however, she has “consistently misrepresented the same property as only having four units in both building permit applications and numerous mortgage documents and applications.”
Pulte cited many documents that reveal that “James purchased another property with her father as a cosigner,” the Post noted, even though she listed her father and herself as “father and wife.”
“Ms. James, for both properties listed above, appears to have falsified records in order to meet certain lending requirements and receive favorable loan terms,” Pulte told Bondi and Blanche in the letter.
In a column on Wednesday, Johnathan Turley, a George Washington University professor and New York Post columnist, said that the “alleged false statements are particularly damning for someone who insisted that she had zero tolerance for such irregularities or errors in financial filings.”
Turley said that the Justice Department has prosecuted those who have committed this “common fraud,” including a Puerto Rican man who made false statements on a reverse mortgage about the property serving as his principal residence.
The law professor said that James may not be able to claim that a third party acted on her behalf and thus absolve her of the potential crime; she repeatedly rejected this claim during her civil case against the Trump Organization.
Turley wrote:
James could claim that these representations were made by a third party acting on her behalf.
However, that is precisely the argument that she repeatedly rejected in the Trump case, insisting that he was legally obligated to review all filings made in his name or that of his companies.
Turley concluded his column predicting that James will surely not be avowing that these sorts of prosecutions are vital after having insisted that ‘no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law.’
WATCH — Letitia James Campaigned on Promise to Prosecute Donald Trump:
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
