James Facing Up To 60 Years In Prison In Mortgage Fraud Case

New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted on federal bank fraud charges after prosecutors alleged she lied on a mortgage application to obtain favorable loan terms on a Virginia property she later rented out.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury, centers on a single-family home in Norfolk, Virginia, that James co-purchased in August 2020 for roughly $137,000. Most of the purchase was financed with a $109,600 loan that prohibited the home from being used as a rental or investment property, according to prosecutors.

By misrepresenting the property as a second home, James received a lower interest rate and saved “approximately $18,933 over the life of the loan,” prosecutors said in a five-page filing.

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte referred the case to the Department of Justice earlier this year, prompting a criminal probe that led to Thursday’s indictment.

According to financial disclosure forms reviewed by the 

New York Post, James repeatedly listed the Norfolk property as an “investment” from 2020 through 2023 in filings with the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government. In 2024, she changed the classification to “real property,” just weeks after the FHFA referral was made.

“The indicted attorney general also estimated the value of the property anywhere between $150,000 and $200,000,” the Post reported.

Despite the loan’s clear prohibition against rental use, prosecutors allege James used the property as a rental investment and earned thousands of dollars in income that she failed to report on multiple disclosure forms.

In her 2020 disclosure, James did list an “investment real property” in Norfolk that generated between $1,000 and $5,000 in revenue, but it is unclear if that referred to the same home named in the indictment.

According to prosecutors, James agreed to a “Second Home Rider” when taking out the loan, which required her to occupy the home as her secondary residence and forbade any rental or shared ownership arrangement.

“Despite these representations,” the indictment reads, “the Norfolk property was not occupied or used by James as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental investment property.”

Prosecutors also said James made false statements on her homeowners’ insurance application, claiming the home would be “owner occupied,” and on her federal tax filings, where she classified the house as “rental real estate” and reported “thousand(s) of dollars in rents received.”

The federal indictment charges James with two counts: bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. If convicted on both counts, she faces up to 60 years in prison and fines totaling as much as $2 million.

The judge presiding over James’ mortgage fraud case on Friday rejected a motion seeking to compel federal prosecutors to maintain a log of all their communications with the media.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell had filed the request last week, following James’ arraignment on charges of bank fraud and making false statements. The motion cited a report alleging that U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan exchanged a series of encrypted Signal messages with a reporter regarding the case, 

the New York Post reported.

“[T]he defendant does not demonstrate that it is necessary for the Court to order the government to track communications with the media in any particular form,” wrote US District Judge Jamar Walker in his six-page order.

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Mother Begs People Online For Help After Finding Mysterious ‘Coffee Grounds’ In Daughter’s Bedroom

Mother Begs People Online For Help After Finding Mysterious ‘Coffee Grounds’ In Daughter’s Bedroom

It’s true that there are positive uses for the internet.

Consider the case of Kelli Tarin. She went to Facebook for assistance after discovering what might be a pest problem. Thousands of comments were left for the mother of three, expressing everything from a desire to offer assistance to a simple want to be informed about her circumstances.

She eventually figured out the solution, but not before laughing heartily.

Tarin sent a request for assistance from other members of the Homemaking Tips Facebook group in August 2023.

She had just moved into a rental home in west Texas with her family when they came onto something that made her call the landlord and every pest control business she could think of all the time.

“Anyone know what this could be? I have found two piles of these. Only in my daughters room. I clean it almost every day. This Is something that happened QUICK,”

 she wrote alongside a photo of a pile of what she described as looking like “coffee grounds.”

 

Many people were drawn to her article and tried to help her with her issue.

“Put a camera up and see how it’s getting there,” one person suggested.

“I can’t really tell but I’m being so honest if there little ‘flying ants’ their a type of termites. I had them in my first house as an ‘adult’ and they would pop up and I’d vacuum them, and then they’d pop right back up,”

 someone else offered.

 

Another individual, meanwhile, merely remarked that it was “rat poop.”

Tarin revised her initial post in response to the numerous suggestions that people kept making.

She said that she would not be allowing her kid to sleep in her bedroom for the time being.

“We called TWO pest control companies yesterday. Literally BOTH of them said they have never seen anything like this. Ever,” she wrote. “If it were terminates, they said the droppings or whatever they leave behind is completely different. What’s left behind is literally crunchy. Almost seed like. It’s very strange.”

 

Tarin rationally explained why it wasn’t any of the potential pests as she went through the list, which included mice, roaches, and bats. Despite finding mice to be “believable”

 as the culprits, she was aware that the brown particles in the piles were not mouse droppings.

 

She got pest treatment and her landlord came out to her property, but she didn’t start to think more critically about things until she saw a comment under one of her Facebook posts.

“I red [sic] a comment from someone that said they kids lavender bear busted opened and this was inside. Sure enough, when I picked up toys from here, there was a lavender blush [sic] bear in the pile.”

 

After picking up the bear, Tarin threw it away right away because he thought it was “infested.”

She glanced at the bear again, though, as her curiosity got the better of her. There was a hole in the stuffed animal.

“I poured out the contents and these beads were inside!!!I have laughed for 30 mins. Imagine my relief.“

We didn’t think he would make it through the night: He kept asking for “Murphy…” — but no one knew who that was

“We didn’t think he’d make it through the night.” He was very ill—low oxygen, high fever, barely conscious. But through it all, he kept whispering one name: “Murphy… Murphy…” We thought it might be a son or old friend. But when asked, he softly said:

“My good boy… I miss my good boy.”

We called his daughter. Her voice broke: “Murphy is his 13-year-old Golden Retriever. We left him at my brother’s while Dad’s in the hospital.”

 After some effort, the nurse managed to bring Murphy in. A few hours later, the dog entered the room—calm, loyal, tail wagging. When he saw his owner, he walked up and laid his head gently on his chest.

 

Walter opened his eyes and smiled. He whispered: “Murphy… did you find her?” Confused, his daughter asked, “Who’s ‘her’?”
Walter replied: “He found her in the snow… when no one believed me.”

 

He told us about Lizzie, a troubled teen who went missing years ago. Everyone gave up—but Walter and Murphy didn’t. One day, Murphy barked near a ditch… and they found her alive.

Days later, after the story was shared, a woman messaged:
“My name was Lizzie. I think that’s me.”

She came with her daughter and hugged Walter.
“I wouldn’t be here without you.”

Walter smiled and said:
“It was Murphy.”

 

When Walter passed, Murphy lay beside him one last time.

At the funeral, Lizzie said:
“Murphy found me twice.”

A stone was placed:

“Murphy – Guardian Angel. Good boy, forever.”

Sometimes, one loyal heart can change everything.
Have you ever had a “Murphy” in your life?