ABUSE OF POWER: Legal woes mount for Trump foe NY AG Letitia James as ethic complaint filed over fraud allegations

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From Fox News: New York Attorney General Letitia James is the subject of a new state-level ethics complaint filed by pro-Trump legal nonprofit America First Legal (AFL).

The AFL complaint filed last week adds to the recent woes for James, who’s also facing a criminal referral from the Trump administration related to accusations of mortgage fraud.

“For a state prosecutor who has maligned the President of the United States for political gain, public accountability will serve as a cure to Letitia James’ endless lawfare and abuse of power,” AFL Vice President Dan Epstein said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

The complaint was filed with the New York State Unified Court System’s Committee on Professional Standards, the state-level entity that handles discipline matters for attorneys whose principal office is in the Albany region. The complaint requests that the attorney grievance committee open an investigation into James over accusations of mortgage fraud levied against her earlier this month by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

James has already “lawyered up,” hiring high-profile attorney Abbe Lowell to defend her. Lowell, a Democrat, is the same attorney who previously defended Hunter Biden against federal tax and gun charges.

America First Legal announced in social media posts Monday afternoon that they have filed the complaint against James:

AFL has filed a bar complaint against NY Attorney General Letitia James following a DOJ criminal referral. The complaint alleges she committed mortgage fraud spanning decades by falsifying bank documents and property records for government aid and favorable loans.

On April 14, 2025, U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte sent a criminal referral to DOJ, alleging AG James repeatedly “falsified bank documents and property records” to obtain “government-backed assistance” and loans with “favorable loan terms.”

FHFA’s criminal referral lays out serious allegations spanning two decades, stating AG James may have violated:

➡️ 18 U.S.C. § 1343 — Wire fraud
➡️ 18 U.S.C. § 1341 — Mail fraud
➡️ 18 U.S.C. § 1344 — Bank fraud
➡️ 18 U.S.C. § 1014 — False statements to a financial institution

In August 2023, AG James sought to purchase a home in Norfolk, Virginia, and declared it would be her principal residence.

As New York’s sitting AG, it’s highly unlikely she intended to move more than 400 miles from New York to establish Virginia as her principal residence. However, declaring it her primary residence secured a lower mortgage interest rate.

The referral also alleges that in 2001, AG James falsely reported to the federal government the number of housing units in a NYC building she owned to obtain more favorable loan terms. In her Certificate of Occupancy filing that year, she reported the building had five units.

But in 2011, when refinancing, AG James reported that the building only had four units, making the property eligible for the Home Affordable Modification Plan. It wouldn’t have qualified if she had reported all five units.

In 2019, when AG James refinanced the property again, she again reported that it only had four units, qualifying her for a mortgage through a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lender, with better terms than comparable private sector loans. A five-unit building would’ve required a bigger down payment and a higher interest rate.

If AG James took the actions described in FHFA’s criminal referral, she violated Rules 8.4(b) and 8.4(c) of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct.

Rules 8.4(b) and 8.4(c) of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct explicitly prohibit “illegal conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer,” and “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.”

As AG James herself has repeatedly said: “There cannot be two systems of justice in this nation. No one is above the law.”

AFL urges the Committee on Professional Standards to investigate these serious claims and impose discipline as appropriate.

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