Trump administration refers NY AG Letitia James for possible prosecution over allegations of mortgage fraud

New York Attorney General Letitia James has been hit with shocking allegations by the Trump administration, accusing her of mortgage fraud.

In documents obtained by Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle,” the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, accusing James of mortgage fraud Tuesday.

FHFA Director William Pulte said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that James appears to have falsified records to meet certain lending requirements and receive favorable loan terms.

Pulte cited a property in Virginia that James allegedly claimed as her principal residence and a property in New York she claimed as a four-unit structure instead of five, which he said could mean she was able to get a different and more favorable loan.

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Fox News contributor and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News host Laura Ingraham the irony of James getting accused of falsifying records is “perfectly crushing.”

“This is a person who prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress, and among the charges that were brought in New York, in just the civil but the criminal case, was making false or misleading statements to financial institutions,” Turley said. “As for James, if we apply the Letitia James standard that she created, there’d be little question here. This seems pretty straightforward.”

He explained the Trump administration is saying this was not her principal residence because, as a New York elected official, she has to say her principal residence is in New York.

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James is also accused of saying her father was her husband to file as a married couple, Turley added.

“The Supreme Court just stated earlier in March, in a case called Thompson, that they want to see knowing false statements under sections, like 10-14, not just misleading statements,” Turley said. “These are misleading statements. Either it’s your principal residence or it’s not. Either you’re married to your father or he’s your father.”

The DOJ and James did not respond to Fox News on the matter.

The issue has been prosecuted in the past, but as Turley said on the Ingraham Angle, the “documents themselves are quite damning.”

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Retired NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor Paul Mauro told Fox News Digital he first reported the allegations against James on his Substack almost 10 weeks ago.

“The documents presented by Sam Antar, and the research he has done, appear entirely authentic,” Mauro said. “In which case, AG James appears to have engaged in the very sort of fraud which she alleged in her ludicrous case against Donald Trump.  Let’s see now, if indeed, as AG James has stated herself, nobody is above the law.”

The New York Post reported that the documents show that the property James purchased with her father had both parties listed as “husband and wife” in 1983 and 2000.

“While this was a long time ago, it raises serious concerns about the validity of Ms. James’ representations on mortgage applications,” Pulte reportedly wrote.

James brought forth a civil fraud suit against President Donald Trump, the Trump Organization and its senior leadership in 2022, frequently sitting in the courtroom throughout the proceedings and celebrating the prosecution of Trump in the Manhattan criminal trial over the 34 counts of falsifying business records. 

Trump was ordered to pay a $454 million civil fraud judgment in James’ lawsuit against him, which is currently on appeal. 

So far in 2025, James has spearheaded at least five legal actions against the Trump administration, including leading a coalition of state attorneys general to sue the federal government to halt DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s internal systems, and another lawsuit related to the Trump administration slashing grant funding to research institutions and universities. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.