Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James now faces two additional criminal referrals after a federal judge dismissed a previous criminal indictment accusing her of mortgage fraud. Like the earlier allegation, these new referrals stem from evidence gathered by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte.
“They continue this improper revenge campaign instead of helping bring down the rising cost of living in this country,” Pulte stated.
Pulte alleged James may have falsified information in documents submitted to Allstate Insurance Company in Illinois and Universal Property Insurance in Florida, citing posts by attorney and activist Mike Davis. In a referral to U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros for the Northern District of Illinois, Pulte wrote that James “made representations” in insurance documents stating the property would be occupied by a single adult with no children.
Pulte added: “Instead, according to the post, she knew the house was actually occupied by four people — three children and her niece.”
In a separate referral to U.S. Attorney Jason Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, Pulte accused James of falsely claiming her property would be unoccupied during five months of the year. “The house was, in fact, occupied year-round by her niece,” he wrote.
James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, denied the allegations and attributed them to President Donald Trump. “Trump and his political enablers keep abusing their power to pursue a vendetta against her by trying to rename, refile, and repeat baseless allegations,” Lowell said. “They continue this improper revenge campaign instead of helping bring down the rising cost of living in this country. These desperate tactics will fail — just as every previous attempt has failed — and exposes an administration that has abandoned its responsibility to the American people in favor of petty political payback.”
The Trump administration has unsuccessfully prosecuted James multiple times for past mortgage fraud allegations. James led a September 2022 civil lawsuit against Trump and his organization, accusing them of real estate fraud. She won a $464 million judgment but it was later struck down on appeal as “excessive.”
