Trump housing official refers Letitia James for insurance fraud investigation
Bill Pulte, the Trump administration official who oversees federal housing finance, has asked federal prosecutors to investigate New York Attorney General Letitia James over alleged insurance fraud involving properties in Florida and Illinois, according to criminal referrals obtained by MS Now.
MS Now reported Wednesday that Pulte sent the referrals to Jason Reding Quinones, the Trump-nominated U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Andrew Boutros, the Trump-nominated U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
According to MS Now, the referrals accuse James of making misrepresentations in insurance filings with Universal Property Insurance and Allstate about how two properties tied to her would be used.
“Frustrated by repeated failures, where judges and grand juries have rejected their attempts to charge Attorney General James, Trump and his political enablers keep abusing their power to pursue a vendetta against her by trying to rename, refile, and repeat baseless allegations,” James’ lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
“These desperate tactics will fail — just as every previous attempt has failed — and exposes an Administration that has abandoned its responsibility to the American people in favor of petty political payback,” Lowell added.
The insurance referrals follow an earlier criminal case against James in federal court last fall, CBS News reported. In that case, she was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution over allegations that she misrepresented information about a Virginia property to obtain more favorable mortgage terms.
Prosecutors alleged James bought a house in Virginia in 2020 with a mortgage that required it to be used as a second home, but instead rented it out as an investment property, which allowed her to obtain a lower mortgage rate.
James denied wrongdoing in that case and said the Trump administration was targeting her for political reasons. A federal judge dismissed the indictment in November after finding that interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan had been appointed unlawfully.
Two federal grand juries later declined to re-indict James on bank fraud charges, CBS News reported.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
