Norfolk, Va. — New York Attorney General Leticia James has listed the Virginia home, 300 miles from its New York City office, as the main residence in official public documents.
The modest three-bedroom two-bathroom home lives with a woman and a daughter who moved just a few months ago, according to neighbours.
Before that, “husband and wife” lived in a $240,000 home for about four years, and one neighbor had lived near the property for 18 years and asked not to be identified.
“I just met [the new resident] Maybe a couple of times. The neighbor added new residents. “The last time I saw her was probably about a week ago, and she was smoking a cigarette right away and we were talking about her grandchildren,” she said.
“It may have been more than three months since she was last minute,” the neighbor said. “It’s definitely not a year.”
The 1,450-square-foot home is at the heart of a federal criminal referral for mortgage fraud that James claims “fake records” and earns a more lucrative loan money when he bought the residence with Nie in 2023.
William Plute, director of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA), detailed these claims in letters to James’ Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, which detailed these allegations that promptly and relax the requirements for residency.
The referral also accused James, who is paid $220,000, of misrepresenting the number of apartments in the building he owns in Brooklyn. This is an important distinction. This is a building with less than four mortgage quality in better conditions.
“James is the Attorney General of New York and requires that the law has a major residence in New York.
“It appears that James’ property and mortgage-related misrepresentations continue to purchase his recent 2023 property in Norfolk, Virginia, to ensure lower interest rates and more favorable loan terms,” Pulte writes.
Pulte said this could amount to criminal charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and false statements to financial institutions.
On Wednesday, James’ office said she bought a Norfolk property with Nie. “Her nie lives in the house as a primary residence and AG makes it clear that she does not use the Virginia home as her primary residence,” the statement said.
The statement also states, “Donald Trump’s federal weaponization continues to go out of control — and now they are using cherry-picked information to attack the Attorney General. These political attacks need to be shared.
The attorney general who fought the fight, dodged a reporter’s question outside his Brooklyn home Wednesday morning.
Asked about the incident on Wednesday on Fox News’ “American Newsroom,” Bondi said her office had just been referred. “We haven’t seen it. Of course we review it. You just told me more than I’ve ever heard,” she told Anchor Bill Hemmer.
Outside of Norfolk’s property, a neighbor said that her grandmother had lived in the community for the rest of her life but had never seen James.
James, who declared “no one exceeds the law” when he accused President Trump of inflating the value of his property in 2019, is now caught up in a scandal involving a Virginia home, similar to her residence in Brooklyn.
James granted Shamis Thompson Hairston a power of attorney for signing on August 17, 2023, approved the purchase of Virginia property and secured a mortgage of $219,780 according to legal declaration.
The document was spotted and notarized by Jennifer Levy’s First Deputy Attorney General and the Secretary of State for New York.
Pulte’s letter also raises questions as to whether James lied about the number of three-storey brownstone units he owns in Brooklyn.
The NYC Building Bureau’s Occupation Certificate says the building has five units, but James says there are only four on both the deed and the mortgage.
Residences with five or more units may qualify for commercial loans only under federal funding standards. This means that by representing the home with only four, you could have got a better mortgage rate.
James’ office states, “The Attorney General has made it clear in his financial declaration that this is a building that owns the four units. Previous certificates of possession from January 2001 were submitted by the previous owner before the Attorney General owned the home.”
Speaking about MSNBC’s “Jose Diaz Barato report” on Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams said, “It’s up to the investigator to do unbiased investigations,” calling James a “long-time friend,” and wishing her well.
He was asked if he believed the investigation had been launched for political reasons, and James himself said he should deal with it. Former President Biden’s Justice Department said he believes he is “politicized.”
“It’s essential that our criminal justice agencies do the right thing,” he said.
City Council chair and Democratic mayoral candidate Adrian Adams was a much dull in assessing the motivation behind the crime referral.
“Leticia James was fighting for her career to powerful interests and fighting for everyday New Yorkers. Now she’s been targeted by a president who abuses the power of the federal government to chase her enemies,” she told the Post.
Conservatives cheered James on “having to eat his words” after news of the investigation broke, including his previous political rivals.
GOP candidate Michael Henry, who tried to fire James as Attorney General in 2022, has turned a statement against her against her in a statement to the post.
“No one has surpassed the law. James has not denied the validity of the document. It should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law,” Henry said.
“There are obviously some issues here.”
At best, he said, “There were many misunderstood things on her behalf.”
Henry said the whole case was “certainly ironic” given James indicted Trump on his business records.
– Additional reports by Carl Campanile and Haley Brown
