By Joel Gilbert
I originally created this image of Letitia James in handcuffs using Artificial Intelligence a few months ago – partly symbolic, but also prophetic. Given the 43-year pattern of mortgage fraud I alleged against Letitia James in New York state and the Commonwealth of Virginia, I knew it was just a matter of time.
Today, Lindsey Halligan, the newly appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, announced that a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging New York State Attorney General Letitia James with Bank Fraud under 18 U.S.C. Section 1344 and False Statements to a Financial Institution under 18 U.S.C. Section 1014.
“No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” said U.S. Attorney Halligan. “The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
As expected, James responded by claiming, “This is nothing more than a continuation of the President’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.”
As documented in my investigative reports in The Gateway Pundit beginning in March 2025, Letitia James engaged in years of mortgage fraud and housing regulation violations in connection with her 5-unit Brooklyn apartment building.
James obtained lower interest rates and closing costs by falsely representing her building as having fewer than five units, a key threshold for obtaining more favorable residential lending terms and avoiding more expensive commercial rates and closing costs.
The investigation and grand jury regarding this long pattern of alleged crimes for misrepresentation and financial fraud in New York state is ongoing.
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, Leticia James purchased three homes, which have all been identified as involving likely mortgage fraudulent activity. In Martinsville, Virginia, James purchased a foreclosure with her aunt and cousin in 2008, using a misspelling of her first name, perhaps to avoid scrutiny. However, no form of Leticia James’s name appeared on the mortgage deed, which is illegal, and she did not disclose the purchase in New York state disclosure filings as a candidate.
My colleague Sam Antar reported that James falsely declared a property in Virginia at 604 Sterling Avenue which she co-purchased in 2023 with her niece as her primary residence, thereby obtaining lower interest rates.
Even more troubling, James publicly stated that the property was purchased to provide shelter for her niece’s daughter, Nikia Monique Thompson, a fugitive absconder wanted on parole violations in North Carolina with an active arrest warrant.
Today’s indictment of Leticia James involves the third property in Virginia, located at 3121 Peron Avenue in Norfolk. In the indictment, it is alleged that James was the sole borrower on a Fannie Mae-backed mortgage loan. Fannie Mae is a federally chartered corporation that purchases and guarantees mortgages and operates as a government-sponsored enterprise under the oversight of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA).
The indictment alleges that on or about August 17, 2020, James, as a sole borrower, purchased the three-bedroom, one-bathroom home for $137,000 and financed it with a mortgage loan of $109,600 backed by Fannie Mae.
It further states that the loan was originated by OVM Financial and First Savings Bank under an assigned second home rider, which required James as the sole borrower to occupy and use the property as her secondary residence, and prohibited its use as a time sharing or other shared ownership arrangement, or entering any agreement that requires her to either rent the property or give it away to any other person or the control over the property or use of the property to any other person.
The indictment says that “despite these representations, the Peronne Property was not occupied or used by JAMES as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental property, renting the property of family of (3)”.
The indictment claims that this misrepresentation allowed James to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties, including a note rate of 3%, resulting in approximately $17,837 in rate savings over the life of the loan and a seller credit of approximately $3,288, and with a “total of ill-gotten gains for of approximately %18,933 over the life of the loan” for James.
The indictment raises mortgage fraud as well. It states that on James’s Universal Property application for homeowners’ insurance, she indicated that ownership was “occupied non-seasonal use,” further misrepresenting the intended use of the property.
Finally, the indictment states that Leticia James knowingly intended the property to be used as an investment property, with no intention for actual personal occupancy or use by her.
Expected next, according to Sam Antar, are superseding indictments to cover all three of James’s properties in Virginia, mail and wire fraud charges for every falsified declaration and interstate transmission, and co-conspirator indictment against those who sought to protect James, including employees of the Department of Justice.
This is a breaking story, check back for updates….
Joel Gilbert is a Los Angeles-based film producer and president of Highway 61 Entertainment. He is the producer of the new film Roseanne Barr Is America. He is also the producer of: Dreams from My Real Father, The Trayvon Hoax, Trump: The Art of the Insult, and many other films on American politics and music icons. Gilbert is on Twitter: @JoelSGilbert.
