{"id":27852,"date":"2025-12-24T16:17:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T16:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=27852"},"modified":"2025-12-24T16:17:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T16:17:51","slug":"damning-documents-surface-as-ny-ag-james-faces-mortgage-fraud-charges-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=27852","title":{"rendered":"Damning Documents Surface As NY AG James Faces Mortgage Fraud Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New York Attorney General Letitia James admitted a Virginia property was an \u201cinvestment\u201d on financial disclosure forms while allegedly making false statements to a bank to secure a more favorable loan that prohibited its use as a rental, putting her at risk of spending decades behind bars.<\/p>\n

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The three-bedroom home in Norfolk, Virginia, purchased by James in August 2020 and cited in Thursday\u2019s federal indictment, was listed in the \u201creal estate\u201d section of her 2020 through 2023 financial disclosures to the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government as an \u201cinvestment,\u201d valued between \u201c$100,000 to under $150,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her 2024 ethics filing, however, James changed the classification of the Norfolk property, designating it as \u201creal property\u201d rather than an \u201cinvestment,\u201d according to documents reviewed by the\u00a0New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The AG also upped the estimated value of the single-family home to \u201c$150,000 to under $250,000,\u201d the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

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James filed her 2024 financial disclosure in May, one month after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte referred a criminal complaint to the Justice Department alleging she had falsified records to obtain home loans for another property in Norfolk, Virginia.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear why she changed the property\u2019s designation from \u201cinvestment\u201d to \u201creal property\u201d in that filing, The Post noted.<\/p>\n

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Between 2021 and 2024, James did not report any income from the Norfolk home named in the indictment. In her 2020 disclosure, however, she listed an \u201cinvestment real property\u201d in Norfolk that generated between $1,000 and $5,000 in income, though it is unclear whether that listing referred to the same property.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors allege that Letitia James misrepresented her intended use of the property when she obtained a $109,600 mortgage loan from OVM Financial, which was backed by Fannie Mae, to purchase the $137,000 home in 2020.<\/p>\n

According to the indictment, James agreed to a \u201cSecond Home Rider\u201d when she secured the loan which required the attorney general to \u201coccupy and use the property as her secondary residence, and prohibited its use as a timesharing or other shared ownership arrangement or agreement that requires her either to rent the property or give any other person any control over the occupancy or use of the property.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cDespite these representations,\u201d prosecutors wrote, the Norfolk property \u201cwas not occupied or used by James as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental investment property.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Justice Department, the alleged misrepresentation enabled James to secure a mortgage rate that would not have been available if she had disclosed plans to use the property as a rental. Prosecutors contend that the lower rate resulted in \u201cill-gotten gains\u201d totaling approximately $18,933 over the life of the loan.<\/p>\n

James misrepresented her intended use of the property on a homeowners\u2019 insurance application, indicating that the house would be \u201cowner occupied.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her federal tax forms, however, James treated the Norfolk home as \u201crental real estate,\u201d reporting \u201cthousand(s) of dollars in rents received\u201d and \u201cclaiming deductions for expenses relating to the property,\u201d according to the indictment.<\/p>\n

James has been charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.<\/p>\n

If convicted on both counts, she faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison and fines of up to $2 million.<\/p>\n

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Her first appearance in federal court in Virginia is scheduled for October 24. According to experts, James could rack up as much as $10 million in legal bills defending herself from the charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all in, it\u2019s probably going to be in the range of $5 to $10 million,\u201d former prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Post Friday.<\/p>\n

New York state has a $10 million taxpayer-funded legal defense fund that Attorney General Letitia James is eligible to use, but her office has stated she will not draw from it.<\/p>\n

The state comptroller\u2019s office confirmed that none of the allocated funds have been used.<\/p>\n

James, who was first elected in 2018 and earns an annual salary of $220,000, is instead relying on the Democratic Attorneys General Association to cover her legal defense costs, The Post reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n