Docs: Letitia James Lied To Bank, Insurer In Alleged Fraud Scheme

New York Attorney General Letitia James, D-N.Y., allegedly lied to her lending bank, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and a homeowner’s insurance company in the mortgage fraud scheme for which she was indicted in October, according to documents filed with the court.

According to a tranche of exhibits revealed Thursday night by Lindsey Halligan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, James knowingly lied on numerous documents and applications in an effort to game the system for a second home purchased in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020.

Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project, noted the filings make the case against James appear both open-and-shut and fairly routine for that judicial district.

“Lindsey Halligan’s prosecution of Letitia James is a righteous, garden-variety mortgage fraud prosecution,” Davis wrote on social media. “As her filing shows, prosecutions are routinely brought in the Eastern District of Virginia for fraud over similar amounts of cash.”

“No one’s above the law, Tish,” he added, referencing James’ persistent claims that politicians at all levels should be prosecuted for committing crimes. Ironically, she tried and failed to falsely tag President Donald Trump with charges similar to her own in a nationwide get-Trump lawfare scheme run by Democrats during the Biden administration.

James was indicted for allegedly falsifying records in order to obtain loans for the Virginia home that she claimed would be her “principal residence.” When she applied for the loan, she was living in New York as the state’s attorney general, which is still the case.

One document revealed Thursday shows that in an Affidavit of Occupancy (in which the information given is sworn to be true under oath), James stated the Virginia home would be bought as a “second home,” meaning it could be kept as a vacation home or something similar while maintaining a second property somewhere else.

According to the court filings, however, James never lived in the home, which, judging from the filings, was on Peronne Ave. Her niece did.

“[James] stayed in hotels during visits to Norfolk despite representing that the Peronne residence was her secondary residence,” court filings state. “This is because the home was not treated as her secondary home at all. In fact, [James] purchased the Peronne residence for a relative from whom she collected rent while enjoying the financial benefits of a lower mortgage rate.”

“Furthermore, in October 2020, the relative attempted to use the Peronne address to register to vote,” the filings continue.

This information puts a massive hole in the next thing James allegedly lied about — her homeowner’s insurance application with Universal Property. On that application she claimed that the Virginia home was not occupied for five months out of the year.

It was apparently occupied by her niece year-round, and James was collecting rent from her, according to the court filings. Another insurance document shows James claimed that the only occupant was a single adult, herself.

While James never lived there, her niece did, but not alone. Her niece lived there with three children, none of whom were claimed in the insurance document. There does not seem to be any way these claims were mistakes, as she must have known the reality when she filled out the forms.

In the insurance document in which she neglected to claim the children and falsely claimed that she lived at the property, James said she moved in October 2020. However, the utilities for the property were registered under James’ niece’s name in September 2020, according to the court filings. Filings also state that James claimed that the home was an investment property when filing her taxes, despite “having claimed it as a secondary home on her mortgage application,” as Davis described.

James took “deductions consistent with investment property” on those taxes, not a secondary residence, which “demonstrate that [James] never occupied nor intended to occupy the Peronne residence as the mortgage terms required,” the court filings say.

She claimed it was an investment property “at least twice,” “taking the investment property deductions for several years,” according to the court documents, “but never took steps to amend the material falsehoods on her mortgage documents.”

James has pleaded not guilty.

Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.