Visitor publish by Joel Gilbert
“Everybody is aware of these allegations are baseless, they’re discredited,” New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James confidently answered a man who asked her about mortgage fraud prices.
If James believes her legal professional’s public letter “discredited” something, it’s wishful pondering.
In an April 24 letter to U.S. Legal professional Basic Pamela Bondi, high-profile Democrat protection legal professional Abbe Lowell laid out his of protection of Letitia James in response to a criminal referral filed by U.S. Federal Housing Director William Pulte.
Lowell has represented Hunter Biden and Bob “Gold Bar” Menendez. The referral alleges potential mortgage fraud and marketing campaign finance violations.
Lowell’s whole letter to Bondi smacks of a public relations stunt, relatively than a authorized protection, as Lowell portrays the DOJ referral as an act of political vengeance by Donald Trump.
Whereas that argument might maintain weight within the courtroom of public opinion, it’s legally irrelevant until there may be proof of selective prosecution or denial of due course of. Investigations and referrals have to be evaluated primarily based on proof, not motive.
When Lowell does try to make authorized arguments, they’re considerably flawed.
In a number of areas, Lowell downplays or ignores vital information, mischaracterizes the authorized requirements concerned, appears to misconceive public paperwork, and focuses closely on political optics relatively than addressing the alleged statutory violations.
1. Mischaracterization of the Virginia Major Residence Problem
One of many central allegations within the prison referral is that Letitia James falsely claimed a property in Norfolk, Virginia can be her “major residence” in mortgage paperwork in 2023, as detailed by forensic accountant Sam Antar on his White Collar Fraud web site.
Lowell claims {that a} two-week-old e mail from Letitia James stating the Virginia property “WILL NOT be my major residence” overrides a signed energy of legal professional and loan documents submitted later declaring it as her “principal residence.”
The designation of a property as a “principal residence” on official mortgage paperwork shouldn’t be trivial. It impacts underwriting standards, threat analysis, interest rates, and insurance rates.
The facility of legal professional was signed, notarized, and submitted at closing – its designation carries authorized weight.
That James might have made opposite statements in casual emails doesn’t nullify what she or her consultant attested to beneath penalty of perjury within the signed mortgage varieties. Courts and investigators would prioritize last mortgage filings over casual statements when assessing fraud.
2. Brooklyn 4-Unit Constructing Declare Contradicted by Official Certificates of Occupancy
A second allegation considerations a 2011 federal HAMP (House Reasonably priced Modification Program) mortgage obtained by James on her Brooklyn brownstone. James represented in that software that the constructing contained solely 4 condo models – thus qualifying her for the mortgage program.
Nonetheless, the official Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) lists 5 models, and the HAMP program was restricted to buildings with four or fewer legal units.
Lowell claims that, regardless of the 5-unit C of O, the constructing has all the time functioned informally as a four-unit residence and factors to NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) data that classify the property as having solely three tales and 4 models.
First, Lowell’s argument fails to acknowledge that the authorized unit counts on the Certificates of Occupancy, which is what determines eligibility for packages like HAMP, not a declare of how the house is used informally.
Nor does Lowell deal with James’s misrepresentation of a monetary hardship in qualifying for the HAMP mortgage, this regardless of James incomes round $ 14,000 monthly on the time she efficiently bought the federal government to offer her with a 2.7% mortgage to switch her adjustable 10% price mortgage.
Second, Lowell fails to grasp that New York Metropolis’s HPD classification was created by Letitia James herself. It’s primarily based solely on her yearly registration submission, whereby James falsely claimed her constructing had solely 3 tales and 4 condo models, when it legally had 4 stories and 5 condo models.
3. Minimization of Fraud Threat within the “Husband and Spouse” Mortgage Submitting
One other allegation within the DOJ referral is that Letitia James, in 1983 at age 24, co-signed a mortgage mortgage together with her father, Robert James, itemizing themselves as “husband and wife.”
Lowell asserts that her father stuffed out the varieties and made a mistake. Nonetheless, the “husband and spouse” designation appeared in a number of paperwork throughout a number of years, together with the unique mortgage’s primary web page, its signature web page, the assignment to a brand new lender months later, and the deed upon resale of the property by Letitia James in 2000.
Lowell’s rationalization is just legally insufficient. Each Robert and Letitia James signed the paperwork testifying to the spousal relationship. Letitia had an obligation to learn and proper them earlier than signing.
Why didn’t she accomplish that at the same time as an legal professional in 2000, relatively than selling the property beneath the “husband and spouse” designation?
Misrepresenting a relationship on mortgage paperwork with a purpose to receive favorable mortgage phrases – notably to seem as a married couple with joint monetary duty – can represent mortgage fraud beneath each state and federal statutes.
4. Failure to Deal with Marketing campaign Finance Violations and Nonprofit Coordination
Lowell’s letter is most conspicuously silent on one of the critical allegations: that James’s 2013 Public Advocate campaign paid a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, New York Communities for Change (NYCC), for direct marketing campaign companies, together with canvassing and staffing.
IRS laws prohibit 501(c)(4) organizations from coordinating marketing campaign actions with candidates or their campaigns.
In response to public filings and audit experiences, the James marketing campaign paid NYCC over $3,400 for campaign-related companies – funds that will probably qualify as in-kind contributions if coordinated, which might be unlawful beneath federal tax regulation and doubtlessly New York State marketing campaign finance guidelines.
That Lowell omits any dialogue of this problem suggests a scarcity of credible protection or a method to divert focus from this doubtlessly explosive problem.
Conclusion
Misrepresentations on mortgage functions, improper marketing campaign funds to nonprofits, and suspicious private mortgage filings aren’t erased by claims of political retribution.
Lowell’s letter to Pam Bondi in protection of Letitia James mounts to a public-relations protection, and lacks any authorized substance. If Lowell have been a public relations consultant, it will be positive, however he’s an legal professional.
If the regulation is to be utilized equally, Letitia James have to be held to the identical normal she has lengthy espoused, on the precept that “nobody is above the regulation.”
If Abbe Lowell represents Letitia James along with his “PR protection” at trial and the jury is truthful, James might find yourself convicted and sentenced to jail, identical to Lowell’s consumer Bob Menendez, for years to come back.
Beneath is Abbe Lowell’s letter to Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi:
Joel Gilbert, is a Los Angeles-based movie producer, and president of Highway 61 Entertainment. He’s on Twitter: @JoelSGilbert.
