It's "miniature" because the alleged fraud is over a much smaller amount, $18,933 as opposed to "millions."
But the stakes are high — if convicted, Ms. James faces the possibility of decades in prison....In April, Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, initiated the case against Ms. James. He sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department suggesting that the New York attorney general “appeared to have falsified records” and indicated that she might have committed mortgage fraud.... Mr. Pulte celebrated on Thursday evening, promoting a social media post that said, “Bill Pulte doesn’t play. They all thought their mortgage scams were safe. They were wrong. This is just the beginning.”
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73 comments:
except the fraud is on the front page of the document, instead of some fictional appraisal she made of maralago, its lillian hellman all the way,
Piker.
How does it 'mirror' the Trump case? This is an exceptionally poor attempt at simile. 'Look ! They're very similar because they're both court cases !'
Thousands in actual or millions in imagined fraud. A little token of sincerity or a large onion in retributive change.
the us atty, sewart who wouldn't go along, turns out he's a verifiable psycho,
apples and pomegranates,
No one is above the law - we were told.
But we all knew - that Leftists ARE above the law.
https://www.projectveritas.com/news/episode-4-bill-barrs-cia-ties-linked-to-visa-fraud-scheme a follow up from this,
There's nothing miniature about James.
James actually got a deal she wouldn't have in absence of her intentionally erroneous factual statement, she actually benefited from that erroneous statement, and that the lenders were paid less than they should have been. None of that happened with the loans to Trump. So, yeah, James' situation "mirrors" Trumps in that it's a reverse image.
She declared on the mortgage application the property would not be used to generate income, to get a lower rate. She declared on her tax returns that the property was generating income and claimed deductions for maintenance and repairs, the exact type of deductions landlords claim. No one has ever seen her at the home. She gave control of the property to a relative who also does not live at the home. Those living at the home are not friends or relatives of her or her family. They're renters. She committed mortgage fraud or tax fraud. Take your pick.
Quote millions unquote in fraud. NYeT (suspicious) hallucinating, dreaming Democratic dreams.
I remember reading the statute Mr. Trump was accused of violating, and to me as a layperson it seemed written so broadly that it practically made negotiation a crime. That couldn’t be right, I thought — but it showed how flexible the definitions had become.
With these new mortgage-fraud allegations, I’d rather see the politics taken out of it entirely. Turn an LLM loose on the full dataset — not just the pieces tied to one name — and let it flag every comparable case. Remove the partisan filter and analyze the whole system. If wrongdoing is there, it should show up no matter who’s involved.
So Trump's conviction for fraud had zero dollars in losses to the bank he supposedly defrauded, that is, $0.00 total loss to the bank he supposedly defrauded. Ms. James' fraud cost the bank $18,933, which she kept instead of giving it to the bank. I suggest that since Trump was fined $354,800,000 for that $0.00 total damage to his bank that Ms. James be fined (18,933 x $354,800,000) for her total damage to her bank. Or am I missing some rounding error here in my math?
There's so much Democrat/liberal left fraud they may have to hire more DoJ lawyers.
As stated above, Trump's "fraud" cost zero damages. But the main thing was "No one is above the law". I doubt they'll get a conviction since she's a democrat black female, but one can hope.
"She declared on the mortgage application the property would not be used to generate income, to get a lower rate. She declared on her tax returns that the property was generating income and claimed deductions for maintenance and repairs, the exact type of deductions landlords claim"
Hmm, did she pay taxes on the generated income?
Suspect deductions for expenses zeroed out taxable profit.
The NY case that James pushed against Trump was totally fake. The case against James is very real. James thought she was immune because she is a Black, female Dem.
I have a lawyer buddy in Omaha who made a fortune in real estate. He now lives next to a river in WY. He posted on FB that this is a clear case of mortgage fraud.
Lock her up! Just like Martha Stewart.
it practically made negotiation a crime. That couldn’t be right, I thought — but it showed how flexible the definitions had become.
Keep in mind the NYC is posed the elect a communist as their next mayor, so yeah, negotiations on values would be a crime. When you think about it, Mamdani won't be New York's first communist by a long shot.
While the memo section of a check stub had never been used to fabricate a 34-count indictment before, there is a long history of bank and mortgage fraud like James' being prosecuted routinely.
Not novel. Routine. And unlike Democrats, we want the same standard applied to all. Any Republican or Independent politician who lies to get a better rate like she did should also be prosecuted.
It's only one extreme left side of the political spectrum who wants to apply all the rules and laws to their enemies and not their friends.
For example, I want all mayors and governors to cooperate with federal law enforcement. ALL. Regardless of party. And for the slower ones, irregardless of party.
’Mr. Pulte celebrated…’
Celebrated? Sounds like he merely stated facts.
no wilhelm aka deblasio was the 1.0 version, Sandalista in good standard,
Here's my real estate lawyer and owner's analysis. One of the smartest lawyers I know.
"Oh puh-lease. Can we quit with the Trump Letitia retribution angle? She bought a townhome in 2020 in Norfolk VA while her primary residence was in NY. She applied for a taxpayer-subsidized mortgage loan and signed under penalty of perjury that the townhome was or would be her primary residence. It wasn't only a disqualified second home, but she rented it out. She knew that in advance. She saved 19k versus a traditional conventional secondary market loan. She committed mortgage fraud. Do residential real estate owners try this trick? Some do. If she would have moved in after locking down her under market rate on a 30-year am, stayed there for a couple years then moved out and kept it as a rental she would be good. Those are not the facts. Unless she showed up at closing in person with a certified check she also committed wire fraud. PS there were actual victims in this case. In her case against Trump there were none."
The problem with your lawyer-friend's analysis Dave is that he forgot that she's black. Different laws yadda yadda.
I wonder if they combed through decades of her personal finances searching for any trace of a possible "crime" they way they did Donald Trump? Remember when Hochul told real estate people in New York not to worry, because this was only about Trump? I mean, haven't they combed through decades of every other NYC real-estate mogul? Since, you know, James's prosecution was according to Hoyle, and all, they must have.
Some credit should be given to the Times for recognizing that Trump didn't just invent politicizing government agencies.
But as everyone here has pointed out, it doesn't mirror Trump for the simple fact that James is actually guilty of an actual crime. That was never true of Trump.
James made enough money to buy a second home as a rental property? Did she take bribes?
they are all so crooked they need a crowbar, Schumer Swalwell Jeffries,
“When powerful people cheat to get better loans, it comes at the expense of honest and hardworking people. Everyday Americans cannot lie to a bank to get a mortgage to buy a home, and if they did, our government would throw the book at them. There simply cannot be different rules for different people."
From the Office of the New York State Attorney General website.
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-wins-landmark-victory-case-against-donald-trump
Quick! Someone search her house for shoeboxes filled with cash! Another black sow with a law degree in Georgia told me that's where they hide their money. Their daddies (if'n they had 'em..) all told 'em so to do!
Has she said what her defense is? She may get the case dismissed on selective prosecution but that doesn’t go the merit.
NOBODY IS ABOVE THE LAW.
Begley, you and your buddy have got the facts wrong. There was a second home rider, James was not claiming it as her primary residence. Read the indictment. Also, it’s a house not a townhome.
What’s unclear from the indictment is how much time passed from the purchase to the renting of the property. That’s the window in which James’s lawyers can argue in her defense that circumstances changed.
Kenan Thompson plus 65 lbs and a bad wig.
well kenan was occasionally funny, before snl
So, the stakes are high, are they? š
If I recall, the NY Times was one of the few major outlets to report that the fraud charges against Trump were almost never levied in other cases. I considered that significant.
Unlike Trump who had accountants do the calculations and he just signed.. they knew they did fraud.. and signed anyway.
She literally (which I use here intentionally) ran for office promising to "get Trump." She literally assembled a team (Biden DOJ draftees who quit the Feds to work for peanuts) to "find a crime" with which to charge him. Turned out a Civil action was her convenient vehicle for persecuting the target she announced she was going to pursue. She made threats and followed through, with what IMO will be tossed out by higher court in full eventually.
There is no mirror image of these actions at all.
Begley, you and your buddy have got the facts wrong. There was a second home rider, James was not claiming it as her primary residence. Read the indictment. Also, it’s a house not a townhome.
What’s unclear from the indictment is how much time passed from the purchase to the renting of the property. That’s the window in which James’s lawyers can argue in her defense that circumstances changed.
The indictment indicates that James never occupied the home and that it was used as a rental the entire time, with thousands of dollars in rent reported on her taxes each year. Plus, who cares whether it is a "home" or a "townhome," what relevance does that have?
Perp walks, mug shots, "impartial" AG mugging for the cameras in court.
There is not and will not be a "mirror image" of that behavior.
She wanted to bankrupt his business and children over a victimless crime. She wanted to bar his entire family from their own business.
How would one create a "mirror image" action of that? Tish is an evil partisan democrat BIRM.
what relevance does that have?
None but it makes good chaff.
I haven’t been able to find the actual loan documents that Letitia James signed, but here is the relevant clause from the standard Fannie Mae second home rider:
“Borrower must occupy and use the Property as Borrower’s second home. Borrower will maintain exclusive control over the occupancy of the Property, including short-term rentals, and will not subject the Property to any timesharing or other shared ownership arrangement or to any rental pool or agreement that requires Borrower either to rent the Property or give a management firm or any other person or entity any control over the occupancy or use of the Property. Borrower will keep the Property available primarily as a residence for Borrower’s personal use and enjoyment for at least one year after the date of this Security Instrument, unless Lender otherwise agrees in writing, which consent will not be unreasonably withheld, or unless extenuating circumstances exist that are beyond Borrower’s control.”
The first sentence is clear enough as an obligation to use the property as a second home, but less clear as to whether it is a representation that it will be so used. In any case, James’s lawyers can argue that it was natural when buying a summer vacation home in August not to plan to use it until the next summer, and things changed.
The second sentence is a doozy of legalese, I think it’s intended to rule out timeshares, but in any case allows the borrower to rent the second home so long as they “maintain exclusive control over the occupancy”.
The third sentence is going to be very hard for the prosecution to get past. Any good lawyer defending James, including Begley, could drive a truck through the “extenuating circumstances” clause. The cheeky defense argument will be that James was unable to use the property as she intended because her case against Trump took more of her time than she expected.
As a principled libertarian, I have no problem with Trump prosecuting his political enemies and filling our streets with his personal army.
Thanks Mr. Begley. There seems to have been zero intention on her part to ever reside there as her permenant residence but to use the property as a rental.
This penny-ante stuff is unsatisfying. An indictment for Conspiracy to infringe the civil rights of Donald J Trump would be a steak dinner.
Left Bank of the Charles said...
Begley, you and your buddy have got the facts wrong. There was a second home rider, James was not claiming it as her primary residence. Read the indictment. Also, it’s a house not a townhome.
What’s unclear from the indictment is how much time passed from the purchase to the renting of the property. That’s the window in which James’s lawyers can argue in her defense that circumstances changed.
LOL. This is so stupid and dishonest.
You can't have multiple "Primary" residences. Not even when you switch. Between them.
I have done many investment properties. It was so obviously not going to be her primary residence. The rules here are very clear and there is no way that she didn't know what she was doing or what the laws were. There is no ambiguity anywhere in this process. Only blatant and obvious corruption.
She tried to sue Trump for doing exactly what she did. She knew all of the laws.
This alone should land her in jail for years for the damage that she did to the credibility of the system.
Left Bank, if 'exclusive control' is required to make rental acceptable I have read that she passed some measure of control to a relative IIRC.
"but here is the relevant clause from the standard Fannie Mae second home rider:"
You have to be a weasel to read that and argue that the borrower is not committing to using the property as her second residence.
It's "miniature" because the alleged fraud is over a much smaller amount, $18,933 as opposed to "millions."
The prosecutions against Trump were so over-the-top, that even non-lawyers smelled the fishiness.
Trump is prosecuting the people who came after him, but instead of making up fantastic, never-before-seen crimes, the DOJ is going after them for committing small, ordinary crimes.
What's also notable is that many prosecutors are resigning rather than doing this lawfare against Democrats. There was none of this shame and embarrassment when Trump was the target. If people had stood up to Joe Biden, maybe he wouldn't have been the worst president of my lifetime.
"What's also notable is that many prosecutors are resigning rather than doing this lawfare against Democrats."
So, it's a twofer!
Even if I never heard of her crime, I'd assume there was one like it in her closet. She just seems like the type. You know what I mean. Oh, stop it. Of course you do, and you thought the same thing.
From what I read in the NY Post, a blogger named Sam Antar (the former CFO of Crazy Eddie of stock fraud fame) pulled the public record mortgages of Ms James and wrote about them. He's a felon who blogs about fraud and cousin to Eddie Antar. This attracted HUD Secretary Pulte who referred the case to the attorney general. Since mortgages are public documents in most states anyone can do searches and review mortgage terms. You can check out your local officials if you want to spend the time searching records which are usually held at the county level. I'd recommend searching by name in vacation areas, but it would be really time consuming.
From what I read in the NY Post, a blogger named Sam Antar (the former CFO of Crazy Eddie of stock fraud fame) pulled the public record mortgages of Ms James and wrote about them. He's a felon who blogs about fraud and cousin to Eddie Antar. This attracted HUD Secretary Pulte who referred the case to the attorney general. Since mortgages are public documents in most states anyone can do searches and review mortgage terms. You can check out your local officials if you want to spend the time searching records which are usually held at the county level. I'd recommend searching by name in vacation areas, but it would be really time consuming.
The headline was actually a big (and welcome) concession from NYT. Their commenters are letting them have it for "false equivalency".
Rental homes are a favorite of the IRS for audits, from my experience. Get a great CPA, do what she tells you, and all will be well. I suspect Trump had great CPAs and Ms. James did not, and their cases' final outcomes will reflect that accordingly.
With these new mortgage-fraud allegations, I’d rather see the politics taken out of it entirely. Turn an LLM loose on the full dataset — not just the pieces tied to one name — and let it flag every comparable case. Remove the partisan filter and analyze the whole system. If wrongdoing is there, it should show up no matter who’s involved.
Way too late. Where were you when they created new law to go after Trump, and only Trump?
She declared on the mortgage application the property would not be used to generate income, to get a lower rate. She declared on her tax returns that the property was generating income and claimed deductions for maintenance and repairs, the exact type of deductions landlords claim. No one has ever seen her at the home. She gave control of the property to a relative who also does not live at the home. Those living at the home are not friends or relatives of her or her family. They're renters. She committed mortgage fraud or tax fraud. Take your pick.
And probably insurance fraud as well. If not, the insurance application should prove the mortgage fraud.
Except, Charles, She had no intention of living there . From day one it was used as a rental property. She got the loan with the understanding that the home would be her second primary residence. There isn't a lot of legal wiggle room for her. She lied on he mortgage application.
It occurred to me you could check financial disclosure forms to see if any real estate is listed, but I wonder of Ms James listed her holdings.
Many counties, probably most, let you search mortgage records on line. So you don't need to go to the courthouse to do a search.
"She lied on he mortgage application."
You're overlooking the "black female Democrat" exemption to the prohibition of making false statements on a loan application, you know.
And it's not a victimless fraud. The lender has higher risk in lending for a rental unit than for a prime residence. Higher risk of damage by bad tenants. Harder if it comes to repossession.
Except, Charles, She had no intention of living there . From day one it was used as a rental property. She got the loan with the understanding that the home would be her second primary residence. There isn't a lot of legal wiggle room for her. She lied on he mortgage application.
And paid taxed on the rental income, showing she knew the rental was a form of income for her.
From the X account of "Nate the Lawyer"
Evidence DOJ says proves Letitia James defrauded the bank:
1. Claimed Norfolk home was a “secondary residence” to get better loan terms
2. Signed a “Second Home Rider” promising to live there
3. Actually rented it out to tenants
4. Reported rental income on her tax returns
5. Told insurer it was owner-occupied
6. Saved ~$18,933 from the false claim
— Case filed 10/9/25, E.D. Va.
Oh, there's more...
Letitia James engaged in years of mortgage fraud and housing regulation violations in connection with her 5-unit Brooklyn apartment building.
James obtained lower interest rates and closing costs by falsely representing her building as having fewer than five units, a key threshold for obtaining more favorable residential lending terms and avoiding more expensive commercial rates and closing costs.
The investigation and grand jury regarding this long pattern of alleged crimes for misrepresentation and financial fraud in New York state is ongoing.
https://revolver.news/2025/10/letitia-james-mortgage-fraud-is-worse-than-anyone-thinks/
Yeah, but it's real fraud, not imaginary.
Why has this criminal bitch not been booked yet?
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