Letitia James Indicted on Bank Fraud, False Statements to Financial Institution Charges
From April: “Based on media reports, Ms. Letitia James has, in multiple instances falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms,”
A federal grand jury in Virginia has indicted New York State Attorney General Letitia James on criminal bank fraud charges, according to numerous reports.
Two charges:
- Count one: Bank Fraud – 18 U.S. Code § 1344
- Count two: False Statements to a Financial Institution – 18 U.S. Code § 1014
JUST IN: New York Attorney General Letitia James indicted in federal court on criminal bank fraud charge.
No one is above the law!pic.twitter.com/eD5QqD403F
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 9, 2025
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan presented the case before the grand jury on Thursday.
Halligan took over the post last month after Erik Siebert left.
Siebert supposedly did not believe they had sufficient evidence against James.
Remember, the prosecution has to prove that James knowingly committed mortgage fraud.
The Allegations
First off, how about a flashback!
When powerful people cheat to get better loans, it comes at the expense of hardworking people.
Everyday Americans cannot lie to a bank to get a mortgage, and if they did, our government would throw the book at them.
There simply cannot be different rules for different people.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) February 16, 2024
In April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) referred James to the DOJ for alleged mortgage fraud.
“Based on media reports, Ms. Letitia James has, in multiple instances falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms,” wrote Bill Pulte, director of FHFA, to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Pulte added: “This has potentially included 1) falsifying residence status for a Norfolk, Virginia-based home in order to secure a lower mortgage rate and 2) misrepresenting property descriptions to meet stringent requirements for government backed loans and government assistance.”
In mid-August 2023, James allegedly gave someone power of attorney to establish the Virginia property as her “principal residence.”
At the end of the month, James purchased the property through her attorney.
“In a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Form 3047 and in mortgage documents, she reaffirmed this would be her primary residence, despite being a statewide public office holder in the state of New York at that same time and primarily residing in New York,” explained Pulte.
Mortgage Fraud
As I mentioned before, the prosecution has to prove James knowingly committed mortgage fraud.
In other words, intent.
I did not learn much about mortgage fraud in my law classes. What I’ve read, though, seems to be complex. I can see why Siebert felt the way he did. It’s hard to prove intent.
I found these common red flags that tell you a person probably lied about their primary residence:
- Borrower claims to be moving to a less desirable or smaller property while still owning a larger home nearby
- Quick change of mailing address after closing
- Borrower cannot demonstrate local employment, school enrollment, or family ties
- Recently purchased homes listed for rent shortly after closing
This is also important. What makes it a primary residence:
- Move in within 60 days of closing
- Live in the home for the majority of the year
- Use the address for your driver’s license, voter registration, and taxes
Have the intent to make it your permanent home
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Comments
I know “accuse your opponent of what you’re doing” is part of the playbook for these people, but I didn’t know it was so literal.
She it’s literally too dumb to have made up any of the stuff she did against Trump on her own. She needed her own example
“When powerful people cheat to get better loans, it comes at the expense of hardworking people.
Everyday Americans cannot lie to a bank to get a mortgage, and if they did, our government would throw the book at them.
There simply cannot be different rules for different people.”
Imagine the UNMITIGATED GALL it required to write this condemnation a mere SIX MONTHS after committing the very same crime herself..
I find it odd that she is smart enough to prosecute Trump for some type of made up mortgage fraud and is now saying she doesn’t understand how to apply for a mortgage without making false statements.
I have a feeling Obama told her he would take care of complications.
They couldn’t accus Trump of doing crack because Hunter Biden was already on the hot seat for losing his cocaine in the white house…..
Pass the popcorn.
Biden judge. Not holding my breath.
Northern Virginia Jury. Not a chance of conviction. These perps are immune when being judged by a jury of their “peers”.
Put “No one is above the law” on a continuous playback loop.
Pipe it into Bragg’s office
Squeeze her dry of personal funds and verify she isn’t using campaign funds to pay her hopefully huge attorney fees.
Also, demand she step down since she has been indicted. That is part of the democrat playbook these days so insist she play by her own rules.
Sadly the state of NY stole our tax money and put it aside for her to use to fight this. It is disgusting as she did this as a citizen not a government rep but we NY citizens are paying her defense. I say make it a swift prosecution. There must be some way the feds can force NYS not to spend the money on her since this was done before she took office. They could use the money to shore up the nearly non existent developmental disability services for sure.
She is accused of a personal crime. How can the state pay for her defense? That’s outrageous and should be illegal.
“There must be some way the feds can force NYS not to spend the money on her since this was done before she took office. ”
According to the indictment, paragraphs 3 and 14, it was 2020 through 2024. James was elected NYSAG in 2018 and, IIRC, the position has a requirement to be domiciled in NYS.
Fornicate and ascertain.
I guess the fact that I know enough not to throw stones in my glass house precludes me from membership in the Democrat party.
I’ll point it out again. When obtaining a mortgage you must sign a document attesting that everything contained in the application is true. It doesn’t say to the best of your knowledge. It says TRUE under the penalty of law. It’s stars right on the form that lying is a felony. The damn form had the FBI logo on it. She knowingly falsified a document to obtain more favorable loan terms. Each mortgage payment is wire/mail fraud depending on how the money was received by the mortgage processor. Next up Adam Schiff for brains. FAFO
Keep in mind that she is a Democrat elected official and is therefore not subject to the law.
Subotai Bahadur
That may have been true in prior cases. Not this one and not this type of case. It’s easy to understand and those who apply for a mortgage know it for what it is. A scam to get better rates.
It is a bedrock tenet of the Democrat party
True can only mean to the best of your knowledge. No matter what it says on a form, you can’t ever be guilty of perjury without having intentionally lied about a material fact.
of course you’re defending her.
it must be a day that ends in ‘y’.
How is that defending her? How could someone – anyone – swear to something that is beyond the best of their knowledge?
Whatever happened to “Ignorance of the Law is no excuse”? And lest we forget, there’s also that pesky standard of knowledge elevation that should result from being an attorney herself.
Apparently, she claimed is was he primary residence to the bank, then later claimed it wasn’t to the IRS.
She intentionally lied about her father being her spouse. She submitted a mortgage application stating that in order to get a lower interest rate. Seems pretty cut and dried to me since the actual application saying that is out their in the public sphere
Ok. Fine. I voted for this, but if convicted will this loathsome woman receive more than a slap on the wrist for this tepid white collar crime?
I doubt it.
The process is the punishment.
They made the rules.
It’s not enough. Prison!!!
Always accuse your opponents on what your doing
Marxism
I am curious whether she will take the stand.
I suspect she will be tested with a real rough practice cross examination.
How could she not know what she was doing was illegal? Had she graduated law school before she bought these houses?
She flaunted it. She thinks she’s the “it” girl and can just do whatever promotes her slimeball fatass self.
I believe if I had done something like this, my ass would be in a sling, for sure.
She denies that she did it at all. And the charge is based entirely on “media reports”. We shall see what happens in discovery and at trial.
The request for the DOJ to investigate the issue was reportedly based on media reports (it makes no sense why they would not examine firsthand evidence under their purview)
The charge is based on the indictment.
I can’t speak to your degree of criminal law experience, but I never testified before a Grand Jury about a document which I hadn’t had in my hot little hands and the AUSA was about to introduce to the Jurors.
Make that …testified before any Grand or Petit Juries… .
Should be easy enough to convince people that a state’s attorney general did not, in fact, intend to use a home in a different state as her primary residence.
Check into how her properties are represented to her insurance companies. Likely she’s cheating them too. Wrap it in a taco and call it “pattern” that indicates willfulness. (Do this even if insurance fraud isn’t a federal crime. If she’s committing insurance fraud too, that’s useful to the federal prosecution.)
Also, each mortgage payment made under the fraudulently-acquired low rate should be a separate charge. You know, like 34 hush-money payments.
The “intent” is obvious and writ large throughout. Only a biased jury and/or judge will save her.
Biased jury and/or judge? What other kind do we have these days?
If it is a NYC jury, take the vote before the trial and save all the fuss.
Alexandria is at least as liberal as NYC. I’m surprised they got an indictment. Same with Comey. Definitely will have popcorn for these trials.
Having once lived in Alexandria, I can vouch for that, but the Eastern District of Virginia covers a lot more territory, most of which is MAGA country. Whether or not she skates depends to a great extent on the venue for her trial.
The Eastern District of Virginia includes the following counties:
Alexandria Division: Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford
Newport News Division: Gloucester, James City, Mathews, York
Norfolk Division: Accomack, Isle of Wight, Northampton, Southampton
Richmond Division: Amelia, Brunswick, Caroline, Charles City,
Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Essex, Goochland, Greensville, Hanover, Henrico, King and Queen, King George, King William, Lancaster, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Middlesex, New Kent, Northumberland, Nottoway, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Prince George, Richmond, Spotsylvania, Surry, Sussex, Westmoreland.
Federal juries are drawn from people throughout the district. So each of those counties may be contributing to the jury pool. You can be sure the AG for the Eastern District wi pull far and wide for this jury pool.
Generally the jury is drawn only from the people in the division of the district where the trial is held. I haven’t seen anything to indicate which division that would be, but since the house is in Norfolk, I assume it will be in the Norfolk division. Northampton is Democrat, but Southampton, Accomack, and Isle of Wight are Republican.
Reportedly, the grand jury was 14 for indicting Comey and 9 against,…
She brought it on herself, by doing the wrong thing, then opening the door by doing the wrong thing. No sympathy. Maybe one day Trump can sue her for her malicious prosecution and abuse of process.
Seems similar to Marilyn Mosby’s indictment where she was convicted. The different was it was two homes out of state rather than one. The appellate court overturned it on a technicality that the prosecution did not prove where the crimes occurred and the jury instruction allowed the jury to conclude where she did – a mind boggling appeals court decision given where she lived and worked.
So I don’t think it’s difficult to prove to a jury but given the legal attention to looking for loopholes/mistakes, much care is necessary to avoid a successful appeal.
Not mind-boggling. The judge incorrectly instructed the jury that the Government did not need to ‘prove that the crime itself was committed in this district’, but ‘only that acts leading up to the crime were done in Maryland.’ Based on that instruction it’s possible that the jury was not convinced she committed the crime in MD rather than FL, but convicted anyway because it thought that wasn’t necessary. But the constitution says federal crimes must be tried in the district where they were committed, so the government has to prove that.
Sorry but I disagree. Read Niemeyer’s dissent where he systematically dismembers the reasoning for the overturn of the conviction. It is compelling.
She lied, but according to Comey, she answered to a higher truth.
CNN’s Scott Jennings Slams Dems for Defending Letitia James: ‘Her Entire Career is Built on the Selective Prosecution of One Man’
Assuming the documents released into the public are genuine, IMO she’s cooked. Shed be nuts to go to a jury trial again IMO. The members would see someone who who by commission or omission lied on her mortgage application (s) and received at minimum approval as well as the lower owner occupied/ primary residence v rental investment property mortgage rate.
At one point I had multiple rental/investment properties in two States and a primary residence in a third State. The difference in qualifying for the loans, the interest rates, the IN costs would have been far lower had I done what she did and lied by commission or omission. She did so not as an ordinary Citizen but as an Attorney and on one as the AG. IMO her quick out the gate ‘y’all can’t prove intent’ defense indicates she undertook these actions knowingly, willingly and deliberately and had already worked up her ‘defense strategy’ beforehand… IOW by raising this defense is a de facto admission of guilt, IMO. A reasonable, fair jury ain’t gonna be overly sympathetic.
” A reasonable, fair jury ain’t gonna be overly sympathetic.”
These days there;’s the rub…
there’s
Hippo-Crit.
See Nate the Lawyer’s comments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ9E5B7kmVI
I wonder how many senators and representatives have lied on loan applications, claiming their DC area home is their primary residence.
Generally and practically speaking, the DC residence is their primary residence. Legally speaking is another issue.
The arrogance of this bull moose campaigning/charging Trump with something similar, all the while doing worse, is beyond comprehension. The pendulum is about to swing right back at her fat @$$, only this time the DOJ has the receipts. But don’t worry, “the prosecution has to prove James knowingly committed mortgage fraud.” Ya know, the way you and I would have gotten away with this had we feigned ignorance.
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
She must not be a smart as she thinks she is if she prosecuted someone for something she herself was guilty of.
New York Post, yesterday:
Cor. The hits just keep on coming.
Today, from the NY Post:
Letitia James is housing criminal OnlyFans model relative at her other Virginia property — which also faced fed investigation
Tish is not just a serial mortgage fraudster — she’s a family slumlord!