On April 14, 2025, NJ.com and the Associated Press published an article by reporter Lauren Sforza that attempted to discredit my independent reporting on New York Attorney General Letitia James. The article falsely implied that I, Sam E. Antar, have a recent history of criminal fraud and that I am acting on behalf of Donald Trump. Both claims are categorically false. While the article correctly identified my name, it attributed a criminal record that belongs to a different individual — Sam A. Antar — and manufactured a fictional association with Donald Trump, whom I have never met, spoken with, or corresponded with directly in any capacity.
What NJ.com and AP Actually Wrote
In the article titled “Trump uses fellow convicted fraudster (remember Crazy Eddie?) in latest attack”, Lauren Sforza wrote:
“Antar is the nephew of Eddie Antar, who founded the Crazy Eddie electronic stores in the 1970s and 1980s. Eddie Antar defrauded investors out of more than $74 million, and died in 2016.
In 2013, Sam Antar was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for taking $225,000 in a fraudulent investment scheme.
He was also convicted and jailed in 2022 for theft by deception charges that involved nearly $350,000. He admitted in April 2023 that he committed federal securities fraud for bilking investors including friends stemming from that same case and was ordered in May 2023 to pay restitution.”
[For those unable to access the paywalled article, I’ve made a full PDF version available on my website.]
This is factually false. I, Sam E. Antar, was not sentenced to prison in 2013 or 2022, nor have I ever been convicted of any crime since my original sentencing for the Crazy Eddie case more than three decades ago.
The headline “Trump uses fellow convicted fraudster (remember Crazy Eddie?) in latest attack” is a deliberate and malicious fabrication designed to smear my reputation by falsely linking me to political battles I have no part in. Let me be clear: I have never met Donald Trump, never spoken with him, and never corresponded with him directly in any capacity. This calculated mischaracterization by NJ.com and AP crosses the line from mere incompetence into willful defamation.
By creating this fictional connection, these so-called journalists aren’t just getting facts wrong – they’re manufacturing a complete fiction to discredit my independently documented reporting on Letitia James. This phantom ‘collaboration’ exists solely in the imagination of reporters desperate to dismiss evidence they cannot refute. Such journalistic malpractice demonstrates why public trust in media continues to plummet. Rather than investigating the documented evidence I’ve presented about Attorney General James’s conduct, they’ve chosen to invent relationships out of thin air to avoid addressing the substance of my reporting.
For the record, my investigation into Letitia James was conducted entirely independently. No one paid me, directed me, or coaxed me into this research – certainly not Donald Trump or anyone connected to him. I pursued this investigation on my own initiative, using my expertise in forensic accounting and fraud detection to analyze public records that anyone can verify.
I’m Not Hiding Anything. My Record Is Public.
I was the former CFO of Crazy Eddie. I cooperated with prosecutors. I pleaded guilty. For my role in the Crazy Eddie fraud, I was sentenced to 6 months house arrest, 1,200 hours of community service, and fined $30,000. Every victim in the case, through their lawyers, released me from any liability because of my extensive cooperation. I’ve never been re-arrested. I’ve never committed another crime. I’ve never hidden my past —it’s all available on my blog website and thousands of interviews.
After my conviction, I’ve spent decades fighting financial crime. I became a forensic fraud expert for numerous government agencies, including the FBI and the Treasury Department. I’ve taught classes on fraud detection and served as a whistleblower in several cases. My clients include government agencies, law firms, accounting firms, investment research firms, hedge funds, and public companies that rely on my unique knowledge of how financial fraud works from the inside.
Correcting the Record
The person they are describing is Sam A. Antar — Eddie Antar’s nephew — who never worked for Crazy Eddie. Sam A. is the son of Allen Antar, Eddie’s brother and a co-conspirator in the Crazy Eddie fraud.
Allen Antar was acquitted in the criminal case, but a federal judge later found him civilly liable for over $5 million in damages in a securities fraud case brought by the SEC. I testified against Eddie, Allen, and the rest of his immediate family who were involved in the fraud. That’s the history. And unlike NJ.com and the AP, I don’t need to distort it.
Here is Sam A. Antar’s actual criminal record:
- 2013: Sam A. Antar pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges and was sentenced to 21 months in prison for stealing $225,000 from an investor. [Source: Crain’s New York Business]
- 2019: The SEC charged Sam A. Antar with defrauding investors out of at least $550,000. [Source: SEC Litigation Release]
- 2022: On April 22, 2022, Sam A. Antar pleaded guilty to charges brought by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. On December 9, 2022, he was sentenced to three years in prison. [Source: SEC Litigation Release]
- 2023: He also agreed to pay the SEC $567,000 in disgorgement plus $89,000 in prejudgment interest. [Source: Crain’s New York Business]
Sforza’s Incompetence and Public Deception
Lauren Sforza has publicly demonstrated not only her incompetence but also pure ignorance through this reporting. Such egregious disregard for basic fact-checking should disqualify her from a profession that demands accuracy and integrity.
Neither Sforza nor anyone else from NJ.com or the Associated Press ever contacted me to verify any of the information they published about me. Not a single email, phone call, or message of any kind. Basic journalistic standards require reaching out to the subject of a story, especially when making serious accusations.
Let’s call this what it is: an embarrassing failure of basic journalistic research. Lauren Sforza had one job — verify the background of the person she was writing about. Instead, she publicly confused two different people with the same last name and used that confusion to smear a source rather than investigate a story.
Sforza didn’t just make an honest mistake — she demonstrated outright incompetence and ignorance. Her reporting misled thousands of readers and attempted to shift the spotlight away from a public official under serious scrutiny. Rather than hoodwinking the public with false information, perhaps Ms. Sforza should seek employment in a field where confusing identities and fabricating criminal records causes less damage to innocent parties.
Meanwhile, Letitia James Has a Lot to Hide
Here’s the real reason they smeared me: because I uncovered documented misconduct by Letitia James — all backed by public records with links to primary source documents.
My investigative reporting has revealed numerous concerning issues about Attorney General James, with every single claim supported by publicly available documentation. I’ve compiled all evidence in my comprehensive report: The Case Against NY Attorney General Letitia James To Date
The evidence shows:
- Principal Residence Misrepresentation: In August 2023, James signed a Specific Power of Attorney declaring her intent to make 3121 Peronne Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia her “principal residence” while serving as NY Attorney General—potentially violating Public Officers Law §30 and constituting mortgage fraud. This declaration came just 45 days before she launched her landmark civil fraud case against Donald Trump.
- Hidden and Phantom Mortgages: James failed to disclose a $109,600 mortgage from OVM Financial on her 3121 Peronne Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia property in her financial disclosures, while later reporting two different mortgages (from Freedom Mortgage and National Mortgage) that cannot be verified through title searches.
- Severe Overleveraging: The combined mortgages would represent 272% of the Virginia property’s assessed value—an impossible loan-to-value ratio under legitimate lending practices.
- Property Unit Count Misrepresentation: James has consistently represented her Brooklyn property as a four-family dwelling on mortgage documents and permit applications since 2001, despite its Certificate of Occupancy classifying it as a five-family property. This misrepresentation is not trivial — it has material implications for mortgage underwriting. Properties with five or more residential units are classified as commercial under federal lending standards and are subject to stricter underwriting criteria, including higher down payment requirements, different debt-service coverage ratios, and shorter amortization terms. By falsely representing the property as a four-family, James may have improperly qualified for more favorable residential loan terms, including lower interest rates, reduced documentation, and higher loan-to-value ratios — benefits she would not have been entitled to under accurate classification. This pattern of filings raises serious questions about the integrity of her loan applications and regulatory compliance.
- HAMP Mortgage Alterations: Last minute handwritten modifications on her 2011 mortgage documents appear designed to maintain eligibility for a federal mortgage relief program that excluded buildings with more than four units.
- Missing and Misclassified Mortgages: Her financial disclosures to New York State show a pattern of delayed reporting, missing mortgages, and unexplained classification changes.
- Undisclosed Rental Income: She failed to disclose rental income from her Brooklyn property for at least five years and reported inconsistent income from her Virginia property.
- Taxpayer-Funded Private Jet Travel: Between 2020-2021, her office spent $41,807 in taxpayer funds on private jet travel with several flights coinciding with campaign activities.
- Luxury Campaign Spending: Campaign filings show luxury travel with inconsistent expense categorization making it difficult to track true expenditure purposes.
- Selective Enforcement: When a complaint was filed about the discrepancy between her property’s five-unit Certificate of Occupancy and her four-unit permit applications, building authorities dismissed it as a “MINOR ERROR”—a striking contrast to how ordinary citizens are treated.
- The Queens Property Designation: In 1983, records show that James and her father co-signed a mortgage document identifying themselves as “husband and wife” rather than father and daughter.
Every single claim I’ve made is supported by public filings, official disclosures, and source documents that anyone can verify. My reporting includes direct links to all original source documents, not just assertions. These aren’t allegations—they’re documented facts from the public record.
The Irony
I disclosed my crimes. Letitia James hasn’t even disclosed her mortgages. I tell the truth about my past. NJ.com can’t even tell the truth about who committed what.
I’ll Debate Letitia James or Any Media Outlet — Anytime
If Letitia James, NJ.com, Lauren Sforza, or the Associated Press believe anything I’ve written is wrong, I invite them to respond — publicly, on the record, and with documents in hand. Because I always bring receipts. And now they’ve given me one more.
Sam E. Antar
© 2025 Sam Antar. All rights reserved.