Lets wait for our SMA to come back in a few days to a week and tell us how the left is correct that the DOJ is weaponized and we're all wrong.
This isn't the USDOJ bringing the action. It's the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, which includes Norfolk, VA. I believe that's where NY AG Letitia James bought her home and lied on the application.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today
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.”
If convicted, Letitia James faces penalties including up to 30 years in prison
per count, up to a $1 million fine on each count, and forfeiture. Actual
sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering
the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/new-york-state-attorney-general-indictedJames faces one charge of bank fraud and another of making false statements
to a financial institution. The indictment alleges she misrepresented how she
used a home she bought in Norfolk in 2020 to get a more favorable mortgage.
According to the indictment, the loan "required James, as the sole borrower to
occupy and use the property as her second home, and prohibited its use as a
timesharing or other shared property arrangement."
"Despite these representations, the Peronne Property was not occupied or
used by James as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental
investment property, renting the property to a family of (3)," the indictment says.
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/read-full-letitia-james-indictment-charges/You can read the entire indictment document at the CBS link above. ^^^
So, while it's true US Attorneys in each district are organizationally beneath the USDOj, they each take information provided to them by an investigating agency and then decide whether to indict or not based on the evidence presented. The evidence has already been presented to a federal grand jury, so that's a 3rd layer of review finding there's enough evidence to charge James with fraud .
I don't see how she's going to wiggle out of this one. She absolutely lied on the application to get a lower interest rate than would have been applied to a rental property by stating it was her second home. She also breached the contract by having a family of 3 living there, paying rent, with James enjoying the deductions associated with expense write-offs on her taxes as a rental property.
If convicted, not only can she do time in prison, but she's on the hook for the over $18K in interest she defrauded the bank out of when she lied. On top of that, she's going to need to hire a law firm to defend her, which won't be cheap since the process will require work in NY and VA. I imagine she'll be losing that high-paying important job of NY AG, too.
The charging document seems pretty cut and dried. if she manages to skate, it'll be a slap in the face of every mortgage borrower who followed the law and answered truthfully on applications rather than try to game the system & not giving a single f**k about the consequences.
Trump paid all his loans back in full. None of his lenders had a single complaint about property valuations, interest rates or anything else. This woman kept the money that was rightfully due the bank had she been honest.
It's at least enough to constitute a felony, I hope. i guess it'll be up to the prosecutor as to what penalty they will ask for .... up to $1M in fines and 30 yrs in prison!
