New York Attorney General Letitia James will make first court appearance
in mortgage fraud case
[October 24, 2025]
By BEN FINELY and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — New York Attorney General Letitia James is set to
make her first court appearance in a mortgage fraud case on Friday, the
third adversary of President Donald Trump to face a judge on federal
charges in recent weeks.
James was indicted earlier this month on charges of bank fraud and
making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a
2020 home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia. The charges came shortly after
the official who had been overseeing the investigation was pushed out by
the Trump administration and the president publicly called on the
Justice Department to take action against James and other of his
political foes.
James, a Democrat who has sued Trump and his administration dozens of
times, has denied wrongdoing and decried the indictment as “nothing more
than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our
justice system.”
The indictment stems from James’ purchase of a modest house in Norfolk,
where she has family. During the sale, she signed a standard document
called a “second home rider” in which she agreed to keep the property
primarily for her “personal use and enjoyment for at least one year,”
unless the lender agreed otherwise.
Rather than using the home as a second residence, the indictment
alleges, James rented it out to a family of three. According to the
indictment, the misrepresentation allowed James to obtain favorable loan
terms not available for investment properties.
James drew Trump's ire when she won a staggering judgment against the
president and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by
overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial
statements. An appeals court overturned the fine, which had ballooned to
more than $500 million with interest, but upheld a lower court’s finding
that Trump had committed fraud.
James' indictment followed the resignation of Erik Siebert as U.S.
attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after he resisted Trump
administration pressure to bring charges. Siebert was replaced with
Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide and former Trump lawyer who had
never previously served as a federal prosecutor and presented James'
case to the grand jury herself.
On Thursday, lawyers for James asked for an order prohibiting
prosecutors from disclosing to the news media information about the
investigation, or materials from the case, outside of court.
The motion followed the revelation from earlier this week that Halligan
contacted via an encrypted text messaging platform a reporter from
Lawfare, a media organization that covers legal and national security
issues, to discuss the James prosecution and complain about coverage of
it. The reporter published the exchange that she and Halligan had.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks at a campaign rally
for New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in New
York on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
“The exchange was a stunning disclosure of internal government
information,” lawyers for James wrote.
They added: “It has been reported that Ms. Halligan has no
prosecutorial experience whatsoever. But all federal prosecutors are
required to know and follow the rules governing their conduct from
their first day on the job, and so any lack of experience cannot
excuse their violation.”
The motion also asks that the government be required to preserve all
communications with representatives of the media as well as to
prevent the deletion of any records or communications related to the
investigation and the prosecution of the case.
Separately on Thursday, defense lawyers said they intended to
challenge Halligan’s appointment, a step also taken this week by
attorneys for former FBI Director James Comey in a different case
filed by Halligan.
A third Trump adversary, former national security adviser John
Bolton, pleaded not guilty last week to charges against him of
emailing classified information to family members and keeping top
secret documents at his Maryland home.
The Justice Department has also been investigating mortgage fraud
allegations against Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, whom Trump has
called to be prosecuted over allegations related to a property in
Maryland. In a separate mortgage investigation, authorities have
been probing allegations against Federal Reserve Board member Lisa
Cook, who is challenging a Trump administration effort to remove her
from her job.
_____
Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporter Eric
Tucker in Washington contributed.
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