Letitia James famously campaigned for the office of New York Attorney General on a platform of sticking it to Orange Man Bad. New York being what it is these days, the TDS attack dog won the election and became the Historic™ first black female NY AG, if you care about such things. And now, it looks like she may also have the distinction of becoming the first black female NY AG to earn herself fraud charges.
As you may recall, James filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump in 2023, when he was between presidencies. She accused Trump and his family business of engaging in financial fraud to secure favorable loans and insurance terms. She claimed they did this by inflating the value of their real estate assets (as if lending institutions don't send their own assessors to check on the collateral before handing out massive loans, but I digress). James won a ludicrous ruling against Trump to the tune of approximately $455 million.
This judgment is currently under appeal and widely expected to be overturned by the court. But wouldn't it be funny if Tish James were the one who committed real estate fraud to obtain better loan terms?
A word about my source for what you are about to read: Sam E. Antar was one of the biggest fraudsters of the 1980s. In his role as CFO of the ubiquitous Brooklyn, N.Y.-based electronics chain Crazy Eddie, Antar was convicted of multiple federal fraud-based felonies in 1991, although he scored a plea deal that kept him out of prison.
Antar now describes himself as "a former certified public accountant whose career trajectory took a remarkable turn from perpetrator to investigator of financial fraud." According to his website, White Collar Fraud, "Following his criminal conviction, Antar redirected his expertise toward forensic accounting, leveraging his firsthand knowledge of financial fraud to help combat white-collar crime."
Antar has unearthed an interesting document bearing the signature of the heroine of our story, Tish James. It's a Specific Power of Attorney she signed for her relative, Shamice Thompson-Hairston, to be able to complete a real estate purchase on her behalf. The property in question is a modest residence in Norfolk, Va., which the two women purchased jointly. But the potential legal problem for James is a claim she made on the POA she signed on Aug. 17, 2023:
"I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence," swore James. But did she? Since she went on to conduct her infamous fraud suit against Donald Trump two months later, it seems highly unlikely. But if she didn't move to Virginia, that would mean she fraudulently signed the document.
Why would James have lied on the POA? As anyone who has purchased a second home can tell you, mortgage rates are lower on primary homes than on investment properties. Was James deliberately misrepresenting her status as a resident co-owner to obtain more favorable loan terms?
Perhaps James really did start spending most of her time with Thompson-Hairston in their jointly owned old Virginia home — but that would lead to a different legal pitfall for her. Multiple New York State laws require residency for state officers. "If James declared Virginia as her principal residence—which the power of attorney clearly shows was her intention—she may have triggered an automatic vacancy in the office of Attorney General under New York law—potentially invalidating her authority during the very period she was prosecuting her highest-profile case," notes Antar.
Understand the sublime beauty of the lose-lose situation James is in:
If she did in fact take up residency in her Virginia property, then she legally abandoned her position as New York Attorney General. This means she was ineligible to prosecute Trump at the time.
If she did not take up residency, as she claimed in her POA, then a case can be made that she committed fraud to gain more favorable real estate loan rates — the very crime she hung on Trump. "This would be particularly problematic for someone who has prosecuted others for similar misrepresentations in property matters," Antar notes drily.
But it could be even worse than that for James: she may well have tripped federal wire fraud charges with this maneuver. These can carry a fine of up to $1 million and/or 30 years in the slammer.
And after James's malicious prosecution of the president, the possibility of the Trump DOJ bringing her up on federal fraud charges is a prospect almost too exquisite to bear. If you care to mine for the irony there, I think you'll find a rich vein.
Antar offers a deeper analysis of the situation with links and documents on his site, and it makes for a fascinating read. And if he's right and if the Trump DOJ catches wind of the situation, then I am skipping the popcorn and going straight for the good stuff. Cheers and have a great weekend!
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