New York Attorney General Letitia James has allegedly misrepresented the number of units in her Brooklyn apartment building in multiple mortgage applications, potentially committing mortgage fraud.
According to Joel Gilbert, who detailed the shocking discovery, Letitia claimed her property had four units while official records show it was a five-unit property. Subsequently, the alleged misrepresentation allowed her to secure favorable mortgage terms, saving tens of thousands annually. The lawfare queen purchased the four-story, five-apartment building for $550,000 in 2001. In 2005, she refinanced it with an adjustable Aegis loan with an interest loan of between 7.2% and 10.2%.
Over the next two decades, she took mortgages to refinance the property, in which she listed the building as having four units. However, the Certificate of Occupancy from 2001 lists the property as a five-family dwelling. Four or fewer unit properties receive the more favorable “residential” property interest rates, while those with five or more units fall under the “commercial” category and often attract higher interest rates.
One of the mortgages that James qualified for was the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), intended for owner-occupied properties with no more than four units. While HAMP is intended for individuals with financial hardships, James earned $126,390 in 2011, including rental income. In addition to having a high salary and rental income, James was a single woman without children, raising questions about her eligibility.
However, the mortgage requires applicants to provide “a verified financial hardship that prevents them from making their mortgage payments.” It also warns that “False statements may be punishable by fines, imprisonment, or both under federal law.” Nonetheless, James allegedly qualified for the low-interest loan, paying a paltry 2.7% in interest and saving an estimated $44,000 per year.
Ironically, the lawfare queen initiated a fraud investigation into President Trump for allegedly inflating the value of his assets to get favorable loan terms.
Meanwhile, this is hardly the first time James has been suspected of property fraud. In 2020, white collar fraud investigator Sam Antar “uncovered disturbing discrepancies” in the official disclosures of her Norfolk, Virginia, property which she purchased in August 2020 for $137,000. Antar claims that James purchased the property for $109,600 via an OVM Financial mortgage in August 2020 but later took a mortgage of up to $400,000 on the same property.
“This 30-year loan is coded as a “second home” mortgage, meaning James attested to the lender that she intended to occupy the property as a second residence,” the investigator alleges.
“However, in her NY state financial disclosures from 2020-2023, James consistently designates this same property as an “investment” held for income generation, not a second home.”
According to the fraud watcher, “second homes and investment properties carry different attestations, interest rates, and lending standards,” suggesting that the alleged discrepancy benefited James financially. Antar also claims that James valued the property between $100K-$150K from 2020-2023, but claimed a $250K-$400K mortgage in 2023, which is a loan-to-value ratio of up to 267%.
In 2020, she also allegedly claimed that the property earned between $1,000 and $5,000 with a decent $109,600 OVM Financial mortgage. Yet, the same property started earning $0 in 2023 with a $250k-$400k mortgage. These observations raise serious questions such as how she qualified for a mortgage of up to $400,000 for a property worth about $150,000 and how an “investment” property with such a high mortgage earned no income.
Recently, the white collar fraud investigator also uncovered handwritten alterations on James’ mortgage documents.
“Those people” don’t go into positions of power without a plan for enriching themselves (outside of legal means). “Those people” are naturally drawn to criminality.
If she did wrong here – she should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. After all, nobody is above the law – right? I bet a good DOJ prosecutor might be able to get, what, 34 or so felonies charged.
Do to her what she tried to do to Trump! F Letecia James, crooked ____.
Perhaps Dep Dir Bonginio will assign a few agents to investigate and file charges.
This sounds somewhat serious and also VERY VERY ironic…
Hoping this gets looked at a little deeper.