Politics
NEW: Indictment Against New York AG Letitia James Has Been Revealed
The federal indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James was revealed to the public on Thursday night by Lindsey Halligan, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
A federal grand jury on Thursday opted to indict James on charges of bank fraud and making false claims to a financial institution, according to the Department of Justice. If convicted on both counts, James faces up to 60 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million.
“No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” Halligan said in a statement. “The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
The indictment centers on a single-family home in Norfolk, Virginia that was co-purchased by James in August 2020 for roughly $137,000, most of which was financed with a $109,600 loan that prohibited it from being used as a rental investment property, prosecutors have alleged.
In the document, James declared, “I hereby declare I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence. ”The document was witnessed by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy and a New York state secretary, and notarized, the New York Post reported.
This allowed her to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties,” prosecutors alleged in a five-page court filing, which allowed her to save “approximately $18,933 over the life of the loan.”
Additional financial disclosures from James list the property as a rental that has generated thousands of dollars in additional income. Norfolk property records reviewed by the New York Post show that James granted power of attorney to her niece, Shamice Thompson-Hairston, on August. 17, 2023, authorizing the purchase of the Virginia property, for which they obtained a $219,780 mortgage.
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When a Post reporter visited the single-family home back in April, a neighbor stated that they had never seen James at the home. Prior to James’ purchase, a “husband and wife” lived in the $240,000 house for about four years, said one neighbor, who has lived near the property for 18 years and asked not to be identified.
The indictment places a timeline on the criminal referral sent by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte back in April, which alleged James may have “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms” by listing the Virginia property as her primary residence despite serving as attorney general of New York.
A second property owned by James, a Brooklyn townhome, is listed as her primary residence in subsequent filings.
James, 66, denied the allegations and claimed the investigations into her conduct are politically motivated. “This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General,” James, who campaigned on prosecuting President Trump by any means necessary, ranted.
She went on to defend her controversial civil fraud case against the president and his businesses, which found that Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort was worth only between 18 and 35-million-dollars despite the fact that surrounding properties are worth upwards of five times more. The $400 million penalty imposed on the Trump Organization, which had grown to more than $500 million with interest, was tossed by a New York appeals court back in August, which ruled that the penalty was both excessive and unconstitutional.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency head has also made similar accusations of mortgage fraud against Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) for allegedly claiming a Maryland property as his primary residence.
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