Politico’s recent opinion piece, “21 Unexpected Heavy Hitters for a Democratic Shadow Cabinet,“ is not just laughable—it’s reckless journalism masquerading as political analysis. Among its anointed resistance icons is none other than Letitia James, whom the Federal Housing Finance Agency referred to the Department of Justice on April 14, 2025 for criminal investigation into mortgage fraud, perjury, and financial disclosure violations. Yet Politico’s Bill Scher chose to install her as the moral compass of their fantasy cabinet—as Shadow Attorney General.
Let’s call this what it is: reputational laundering disguised as editorial insight. It’s not just a journalistic failure. It’s an institutional betrayal of public trust. When a major media outlet knowingly omits credible allegations, sworn declarations, and quantifiable financial gain—all publicly documented—it isn’t elevating the discourse. It’s rigging it.
Bill Scher: The Enabler Masquerading as a Journalist
Bill Scher, the author of this whitewash, isn’t some naive intern stumbling through his first assignment. He’s a Contributing Editor to Politico Magazine, Politics Editor of the Washington Monthly, and a contributor to Real Clear Politics. This is a veteran political operative with liberal credentials who co-hosts “The DMZ” and has been analyzing politics for over two decades.
Scher knew exactly what he was doing. This wasn’t incompetence—it was willful omission in service of narrative protection.
When someone with Scher’s experience and connections writes about Letitia James on May 27, 2025—six weeks after the federal criminal referral became public knowledge—and fails to mention it, that’s not oversight. That’s editorial malpractice designed to protect a preferred political figure.
The Timeline That Exposes the Coverup
Let’s examine what Scher knew and when he knew it:
- April 14, 2025: FHFA Director William J. Pulte formally refers Letitia James to the DOJ for criminal prosecution over alleged mortgage fraud
- April 15-16, 2025: Major news outlets including Fox News, PJ Media, Washington Examiner, and HousingWire report on the federal criminal referral
- Late April/Early May 2025: DOJ opens formal criminal investigation into James based on the FHFA referral
- May 27, 2025: Scher publishes his puff piece recommending James as “Shadow Attorney General”
This timeline reveals a six-week window during which any political journalist worth their salt would have been aware of the federal investigation. Scher’s silence on this matter isn’t accidental—it’s calculated editorial interference designed to shield James from accountability.
The Evidence Politico Pretended Didn’t Exist
Here’s what Scher’s piece completely ignores—evidence that was fully public and documented:
1. Virginia Mortgage Fraud Allegations
In August 2023, James swore—under penalty of perjury—that she intended to occupy a Virginia property as her “principal residence.” Fifteen days earlier, she said the exact opposite in an email: “This property WILL NOT be my primary residence.” The mortgage she helped secure with this lie required both borrowers to live in the home. She never moved in. She never disclosed the mortgage. And two top aides in her own office witnessed the declaration.
2. Brooklyn Property Deception
For 20 years, James has misrepresented her five-unit Brooklyn brownstone as having only four units—a material falsehood used in permit filings, mortgage applications, and a federally subsidized loan modification meant only for four-unit homes.
3. The $100,000+ Question
Her Sterling Street declaration alone bought her over $100,000 in quantifiable financial benefits—reduced interest rates, avoided down payments, waived reserve requirements, and eliminated risk-based fees. This wasn’t victimless paperwork fraud; it was a calculated scheme that netted her six figures through a single lie witnessed by her own government staff.
4. Taxpayer-Funded Private Jets
Between 2020-2021, James’ office spent $41,807 in taxpayer funds on private jet travel, with several flights coinciding with campaign activities.
5. Tenant Complaints Ignored
Two days after the federal referral, multiple tenants at James’s Brooklyn property filed complaints citing safety and code violations. Major media outlets haven’t touched it. Politico included her in a leadership fantasy instead.
6. Phantom Mortgages and Missing Disclosures
James’s financial disclosure forms to New York State show a pattern of phantom mortgages that don’t appear in property records, alongside documented mortgages that should have been disclosed but weren’t.
The FIRREA Sword of Damocles
When Scher wrote his May 27 puff piece, James wasn’t just facing potential criminal charges—she was staring down immediate civil enforcement that could destroy her financially and politically within months, not years.
Under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), DOJ can pursue civil penalties of up to $1.1 million per violation for false statements on federally backed mortgages. Unlike criminal cases that require proof beyond reasonable doubt, FIRREA civil actions only need a preponderance of evidence—a much lower bar.
The math is devastating:
- Sterling Street fraud alone: $100,000+ quantifiable benefit = potential $1.1M penalty
- Brooklyn property misrepresentations: 20+ years of false unit counts on federal loans = multiple violations
- Each false mortgage document: Separate $1.1M penalty exposure
- Total potential civil exposure: Several million dollars
Why Civil Enforcement Terrifies James More Than Criminal Charges
Civil enforcement offers several advantages over criminal prosecution:
- Speed: Civil cases move in months, not years
- Discovery Power: DOJ can demand documents and depositions immediately
- Lower Burden: Preponderance vs. beyond reasonable doubt
- No Loss Required: The fraud is complete upon making the false statement
- Parallel Proceedings: Civil discovery can feed the criminal case
James faces a Morton’s Fork in civil proceedings: if she testifies, her statements can be used in criminal prosecution. If she pleads the Fifth, it strengthens both the civil and criminal cases.
Political Theater Masquerading as Journalism
Scher’s article isn’t guilty of a mere sin of omission. He’s actively constructing an alternate reality where facts are inconvenient and loyalty to narrative trumps accountability. This is not journalism—it’s crisis communications on behalf of a public official under federal criminal investigation.
In his piece, Scher writes:
“Perhaps the most effective Democrats in the country right now are the 22 Democratic state attorneys general tying up Trump’s executive orders in the courts. But only one can say she won a civil fraud case against the Trump family business with a $450 million judgement, and that’s New York’s Letitia James.”
What he fails to mention is that this “effective Democrat” is now under federal criminal investigation for the exact same type of conduct she prosecuted Trump for—misrepresenting property values and usage to obtain financial benefits.
Scher continues:
“That makes James uniquely qualified to argue that Trump is abusing the office of the president to enrich himself while destabilizing the global economy for everyone else.”
The grotesque irony is lost on him. James, who allegedly falsified mortgage documents to save over $100,000, is somehow “uniquely qualified” to lecture others about financial propriety.
The Institutional Failure
This isn’t about one article. It’s about what happens when elite media act as enablers. When they cover for one of their own because she targeted the right political enemy. When they erase evidence and glorify misconduct to maintain a pre-approved narrative. When the facts are inconvenient, they vanish—and in their place: a hollow mythology of heroism.
Politico didn’t just overlook James’s legal troubles—they whitewashed them. They replaced public records and federal referrals with empty accolades. That’s not resistance. That’s complicity.
The Double Standard Exposed
Imagine if Donald Trump had:
- Signed a false sworn declaration to obtain mortgage benefits
- Hidden properties from financial disclosures
- Misrepresented unit counts across multiple filings for two decades
- Spent tens of thousands in taxpayer funds on private jets while campaigning
- Had tenants filing safety complaints about his properties
The media would demand his immediate resignation. Editorial boards would call for criminal prosecution. The same journalists who now ignore James’s conduct would be leading the charge for accountability.
But Letitia James does all of this—and Politico gives her a promotion to “Shadow Attorney General.”
The Real Threat to Democracy
Here’s what Scher and his enablers at Politico don’t understand: The real threat to democracy isn’t Trump’s executive orders or conservative policies. It’s the corruption of institutions that are supposed to hold power accountable.
When major media outlets become partisan protection rackets, they destroy the very foundation of informed democracy. When journalists decide which crimes matter based on the political affiliation of the perpetrator, they become accessories to the corruption they’re supposed to expose.
Scher’s piece represents everything wrong with modern political journalism:
- Selective outrage that only applies to political opponents
- Willful blindness to documented misconduct by preferred figures
- Narrative protection that prioritizes politics over truth
- Institutional capture by partisan interests
The Questions Scher Won’t Ask
If Scher were an actual journalist rather than a political operative with a byline, he might ask:
- How can someone under federal criminal investigation for mortgage fraud serve as a “Shadow Attorney General”?
- Why should Americans trust an Attorney General who allegedly falsified her own mortgage documents?
- What does it say about the Democratic Party that they’re elevating someone with a 40-year pattern of property discrepancies?
- How does spending $41,807 in taxpayer funds on private jets while campaigning serve the public interest?
- Why has no mainstream media outlet investigated the mounting tenant complaints about James’s rental properties?
But Scher won’t ask these questions because he’s not interested in the answers. He’s interested in protecting a narrative.
The Politico Problem
This isn’t just about Bill Scher. It’s about Politico’s editorial decision to publish this piece knowing full well about the federal criminal referral. It reveals an institutional problem at one of Washington’s most influential publications.
When Politico allows contributing editors to whitewash officials under federal criminal investigation, it becomes part of the corruption it should be exposing. When it prioritizes political narratives over documented evidence, it forfeits its credibility as a news organization.
The fact that this piece made it through editorial review at Politico suggests either:
- Editorial incompetence on a massive scale, or
- Deliberate institutional bias that values political protection over journalistic integrity
Neither is acceptable for a publication that claims to serve the public interest.
Conclusion: The Death of Accountability Journalism
Bill Scher wasn’t just ignoring criminal allegations when he recommended James as ‘Shadow Attorney General.’ He was ignoring imminent civil enforcement that could bankrupt and remove her from office within months. Any political journalist worth their byline would recognize that someone facing potential multi-million dollar FIRREA penalties—with documentary evidence of fraud—isn’t ‘Shadow Cabinet’ material. They’re damaged goods heading for disgrace.
When Politico published Scher’s whitewash on May 27, James was already staring down:
- Immediate civil penalties potentially exceeding $3 million
- Rapid discovery that would expose the full scope of her fraud
- Depositions under oath where she’d have to choose between perjury and Fifth Amendment silence
- A paper trail that makes conviction nearly inevitable
Scher’s piece wasn’t just editorial malpractice—it was institutional fraud. He sold Politico’s readers a fantasy while the subject of his puff piece faced financial and political extinction. That’s not journalism. That’s propaganda masquerading as analysis.
The real “Shadow Cabinet” isn’t the one Scher fantasizes about in his piece. It’s the one operating in plain sight: a collection of journalists, editors, and media executives who have abandoned their duty to inform the public in favor of protecting their preferred political figures.
Scher and Politico had a choice: They could serve the public interest by acknowledging the serious criminal allegations against James, or they could serve partisan interests by pretending those allegations don’t exist.
They chose partisanship. They chose to mislead their readers. They chose to abandon journalism.
In doing so, they’ve revealed themselves not as guardians of democracy, but as enemies of the truth that democracy requires to survive.
The American people deserve better than this institutional betrayal. They deserve journalists who will hold all powerful figures accountable, regardless of their political affiliation. They deserve a media that serves the public interest, not partisan narratives.
Until institutions like Politico remember their fundamental obligation to truth over politics, they will remain part of the problem they claim to oppose.
Written by,
Sam Antar
Sam E. Antar is a forensic investigator and former CFO of Crazy Eddie who has exposed financial fraud for over two decades. His investigation into Letitia James’s mortgage fraud allegations led to the federal criminal referral by the FHFA. Read more of his investigative reporting at WhiteCollarFraud.com.
© 2025 Sam Antar. All rights reserved.