In a stunning development that threatens to upend New York’s legal and political landscape, the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has formally referred New York Attorney General Letitia James to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution related to alleged mortgage fraud.
The bombshell referral, dated April 14, 2025, and signed by FHFA Director William J. Pulte, outlines a pattern of alleged misrepresentations spanning multiple properties and decades. The document was sent directly to Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting criminal investigation. We have obtained and published the full referral letter here.
This federal investigation appears to validate the extensive “real-time audit” we’ve conducted over the past several months detailing James’ problematic property transactions and financial disclosures. Our discoveries about James’ Virginia residency declaration, property discrepancies, and financial reporting issues have revealed patterns that now appear in this federal criminal referral. Most notably, our April 1, 2025 exclusive on James’ Virginia residence declaration—which now forms a key allegation in the federal criminal referral—revealed a critical legal declaration that had gone unnoticed by mainstream media outlets. Our comprehensive overview of all findings to date can be found in our April 14, 2025 investigative summary.
The Allegations
The FHFA letter focuses on two primary allegations:
1. Virginia Property Residency Misrepresentation — Our Key Discovery
The referral’s first and most significant allegation stems directly from our exclusive reporting. According to the FHFA letter, James signed a Specific Power of Attorney on August 17, 2023, declaring her intent to make a Norfolk, Virginia property her “principal residence.” This declaration came just weeks before James began the high-profile civil fraud trial against former President Donald Trump.
The letter states that James “reaffirmed this would be her primary residence, despite being a statewide public office holder in the state of New York at that same time and primarily residing in the state of New York.”
This allegation directly validates our April 1, 2025 exclusive report where we first uncovered and revealed this declaration, writing: “A declaration buried in legal filings states her intent to make a Virginia house her principal residence: ‘I HEREBY DECLARE that I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence.'” Our investigation further noted that this declaration came at a “remarkable moment” just “seven weeks later—James would take to the courtroom steps in Manhattan to announce the start of her landmark civil fraud case against Donald Trump.”
As evidence, the FHFA cites a July 15, 2024, building permit for her New York property that lists it as the “JAMES RESIDENCE” with status “Remain Occupied.”
The FHFA letter explains: “Primary residence mortgages receive more favorable loan terms, including lower interest rates, than secondary residence mortgages… Interest rates on secondary residence mortgages are typically between 0.25-0.50% higher than their primary residence counterparts.”
2. Brooklyn Property Unit Count Misrepresentation
The second allegation concerns James’ Brooklyn property at 296 Lafayette Avenue. The FHFA states that while the property’s January 26, 2001 Certificate of Occupancy lists it as a five-unit dwelling, James has “consistently misrepresented the same property as only having four units in both building permit applications and numerous mortgage documents.”
This directly confirms the findings in our March 21, 2025 investigation, where we reported: “Official records show a pattern of inconsistencies about a Brooklyn property James owns… The Certificate of Occupancy for 296 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn—issued January 26, 2001—clearly states the property is a five-family dwelling… Yet James repeatedly filed permit applications identifying the same property as a four-family dwelling.”
While Gateway Pundit’s Joel Gilbert initially noted some aspects of this issue, our March 18, 2025 exposé revealed critical new evidence about the HAMP agreement from 2011 that contained suspicious handwritten notations, including “4 fam” handwritten in one corner despite the Certificate of Occupancy classifying it as a five-unit dwelling. As we wrote: “These handwritten modifications—which appear to have been made retroactively—could transform a celebrated legal victory into a personal legal nightmare, as they suggest James may have misrepresented critical details about her property to secure more favorable mortgage terms than she was entitled to receive.”
The FHFA investigation confirms our reporting that this misrepresentation allegedly allowed James to secure conforming loans and mortgage modifications that would not have been available for a five-unit property:
“Conforming loans, or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-backed mortgages, have favorable rates and terms… Conforming single-family loans are subject to a cap of four dwellings per property. A building that exceeds four units must be treated as a multifamily property, and typically has larger down payment requirements and higher interest rates terms—with interest rates being between 0.75-1 percent higher.”
According to the FHFA letter: “It appears that Ms. James may have listed the Brooklyn, NY property as four units instead of five units in order to meet the conforming loan requirements, and thus receive better interest rates. Ms. James also appears to have used this same falsification in order to receive mortgage assistance through HAMP.”
Potential Criminal Violations
The FHFA states it believes these actions “could be violations of the criminal code under 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), and/or other relevant state and federal laws.”
The referral specifically notes that Ms. James, for both properties listed above, “appears to have falsified records in order to meet certain lending requirements and receive favorable loan terms.”
Historical Pattern
The letter also references allegations from 1983, when James and her father allegedly signed mortgage documents stating they were “husband and wife” to secure a home mortgage, raising “serious concerns about the validity of Ms. James representations on mortgage applications.”
This is one of the two issues initially flagged by Gateway Pundit’s Joel Gilbert. The FHFA letter specifically states: “For your reference, I have also attached documentation which shows in 1983 that Ms. James and her father signed mortgage documents that stated that they were husband and wife in order to secure a home mortgage… While this was a long time ago, it raises serious concerns about the validity of Ms. James representations on mortgage applications.”
Our April 5, 2025 comprehensive investigation documented a “four-decade pattern” of disclosure issues that includes this Queens property, the Brooklyn property, and most significantly, our exclusive findings on the more recent Virginia properties.
Additional Documentation: Phantom Mortgages and Hidden Debt
While not explicitly mentioned in the referral letter, our March 3, 2025 report uncovered additional concerning issues with James’ financial disclosures, including “hidden mortgages to phantom loans that don’t appear in property records” and “documented mortgages that should have been disclosed but weren’t.”
As detailed in our March 6, 2025 exposé, James’ Norfolk, Virginia property disclosures suggested possible overleveraging, with mortgages potentially totaling “up to $509,600 against a property… valued at no more than $150,000.”
Implications
This federal criminal referral represents an extraordinary turn of events for James, who rose to national prominence through her prosecution of Donald Trump for alleged financial misrepresentations related to property values. Her case resulted in a $355 million judgment against the former president earlier this year.
The FHFA specifically compares James’ situation to other public officials who have faced similar charges, noting: “Just last year, a federal jury convicted Marilyn J. Mosby of Baltimore, Maryland, on the federal charge of making a false mortgage application when she was Baltimore City State’s Attorney, relating to the purchase of her property in Florida.”
As we noted in our April 14, 2025 comprehensive summary: “Attorney General James has built her career on accountability and transparency, especially in her prosecution of Trump for financial misrepresentations. The documented patterns in her own financial and property dealings raise profound questions about whether she holds herself to the same standards she enforces on others.”
The DOJ has not yet announced whether it will open a formal investigation based on the referral.
We will continue to follow this developing story and provide updates as more information becomes available.
A Pattern of Government Inaction
This federal criminal referral follows numerous complaints and inquiries to state and local authorities that appear to have been ignored or dismissed. As documented in our March 21, 2025 investigation, when a complaint was filed with the NYC Department of Buildings about James’ property unit count discrepancy, it was dismissively labeled as a “MINOR ERROR”—despite the fact that similar violations typically trigger “immediate stop-work orders, substantial financial penalties, expensive remediation requirements, and in some cases, forced vacancy until compliance is achieved” for ordinary New Yorkers.
Our March 23, 2025 report also revealed that James’ office spent “$41,807 in taxpayer funds on private jet travel” with several flights coinciding with campaign activities—another area worthy of investigative scrutiny beyond the scope of this housing referral.
As we stated in our April 5, 2025 report: “Each filing, viewed in isolation, could be dismissed as a mistake. But the pattern—of altering documents, adjusting unit counts, and reclassifying property types—suggests strategic intent.”
A Note of Gratitude
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to our readers for their unwavering support and encouragement throughout this investigative journey. This “real-time audit” has been conducted without any external funding or compensation, driven solely by a commitment to transparency and equal application of the law.
Unlike well-funded media organizations or government agencies with vast resources, our work represents independent journalism in its purest form—following evidence wherever it leads, regardless of the power or position of those involved. Your continued readership, sharing of our articles, and engagement with these important issues make this work possible and meaningful.
Our reporting is based on a criminal referral letter from the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency to the Department of Justice dated April 14, 2025, which we have published in full here, as well as our own previous investigative reporting which appears to have informed the federal investigation. Our “real-time audit” uncovered numerous findings that expanded the scope and detail of the investigation beyond what was previously known. As with all criminal referrals, the allegations contained within represent the opinion of the referring agency and not proven facts. Attorney General James is entitled to the presumption of innocence.