FBI Officially Launches Probe Into New York’s Letitia James

The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albany, New York, have reportedly begun a formal criminal investigation into the real estate and mortgage transactions of New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James.

Last month, William J. Pulte, director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi alleging that James might have “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms.” He said James had “potentially included … falsifying residence status for a Norfolk, Virginia-based home in order to secure a lower mortgage rate and … misrepresenting property descriptions to meet stringent requirements for government backed loans and government assistance.” He pointed out, “Primary residence mortgages receive more favorable loan terms, including lower interest rates, than secondary residence mortgages.”

Two weeks ago, James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, wrote a letter to Bondi, stating, “I write to address the latest act of improper political retribution—this time directed at Ms. James—publicly instigated and endorsed by President Trump…. This so-called ‘Criminal Referral,’ which recycles long-disproven allegations and is ‘[b]ased on media reports’ lacks any credible foundation.”

“Mr. Trump has singled out Attorney General James dating back to her campaign in 2018, and ever more so during and after the trial and verdict in New York in which Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization were found liable for financial fraud and assessed a $454 million judgment,” Lowell claimed.

Lowell referred to what he called “baseless allegations,” saying:

Director Pulte cherry-picked an August 17, 2023 power of attorney that mistakenly stated the property to be Ms. James’ principal residence and at the same time absolutely ignored her very clear and all caps statement two weeks earlier to the mortgage loan broker that “[t]his property WILL NOT be my primary residence[.] It will be Shamice’s primary residence.”  

In 1983, James, then a recent college graduate, bought a Queens residence with her father, with some documents listing her as his “wife.’

“He asked his daughter (then a few years out of school) to help by allowing him to add her name to the mortgage application,” Lowell argued. “Mr. James filled out the mortgage material (wherein he described their relationship as being ‘spouses’) and purchased the home without his daughter’s involvement.”

“However, James, then 24 and a college graduate, signed the notarized mortgage, along with her father, on one of the document’s three pages that listed her as his ‘wife,’” the Times-Union reported. “One of those references to her being her father’s ‘wife’ was just below her signature. Lending experts consulted by the Times Union said that by listing themselves as husband and wife, the pair may have qualified for a loan — or received better borrowing terms — than had they not been considered a couple due to income requirements.”

James led a prosecutorial effort to investigate Trump’s business dealings, which ended with a judge ordering him, his two sons, and a Trump company official to pay more than $360 million.