Two separate career prosecutors did not believe there was enough evidence to support mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James. But James was the driving force behind the civil fraud case against the Trump organization, and a major thorn in Donald Trump’s side. So... here we are.
Today, James became the second Trump political enemy to be indicted. Yes, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert was forced out of a job for refusing to bring these very charges against James. And Elizabeth Yusi, head of major criminal prosecutions in the Norfolk office, prepared for the same fate for refusing to bring the charges. But Trump has installed his former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan (with zero prosecutorial experience) into Siebert’s former role, and well, she does not have the same qualms.
The charges against James have not been made public, but multiple sources are reporting at least one fraud charge has been returned by a grand jury. James has been under investigation for mortgage fraud since 2023 for a loan she took out to help her niece obtain a home. One document in the loan application allegedly reported that the home in question was going to be James’s primary residence, something her team claims was an error. Other loan documents state the property was not going to be James’s primary residence and, in an email to her loan originator, James wrote “this property WILL NOT be my primary residence.”
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].