James has denied wrongdoing and said she ‘will fight these baseless charges aggressively.’
New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted by a grand jury on federal charges, according to an indictment that was unsealed on Thursday.
The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Court of Virginia, charges James with one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements in connection to property she owns in Norfolk, Virginia.
Prosecutors alleged that James falsely claimed that a home in Norfolk was her second residence, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms. She also rented the property to a family, the indictment said.
James, who has previously denied wrongdoing, was being investigated for mortgage fraud after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte alleged earlier this year that she falsely described her Norfolk, Virginia, home as a primary residence in order to secure a more favorable interest rate on a home mortgage loan. Pulte further alleged that James may have inaccurately described her home in Brooklyn.
“No one is above the law,” U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan said in a statement on James’s indictment.
“The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,“ she said. ”The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
Her office said James could face up to 30 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines for each count.
James’s office did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment. however, James released a statement on social media on Thursday evening saying she’ll fight the charges and described them as “baseless” and “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.”
“We will fight these baseless charges aggressively,” she added, “and my office will continue to fiercely protect New Yorkers and their rights.”
Pulte, who submitted his allegations to the Department of Justice in April, accused James of falsifying bank documents and property records in an attempt to “acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms.”
James, he added, had said she lived in Virginia to purchase a home in Norfolk while serving as the attorney general in New York state, where she must live to stay in her position.
The state attorney general was also alleged to have co-signed a mortgage with her niece to purchase a home in Norfolk, the letter added.
