Bill Pulte, the Trump administration's federal housing finance director, has urged prosecutors in Florida and Illinois to investigate New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage insurance fraud, according to criminal referrals reported by MS Now and CBS News.
The referrals claim James may have committed fraud in applications to Universal Property Insurance in Florida and Allstate in Illinois. A similar case in Virginia collapsed after a judge ruled the prosecutor was unlawfully appointed, and grand juries twice declined to indict James on the same charges.
Separately, federal prosecutors are examining James's financial dealings with her hairdresser, who faces bank fraud and identity theft charges in Louisiana, as reported by the New York Times.
James, a prominent critic of Donald Trump, secured a $450m civil fraud judgment against Trump and his sons in 2024, though a five-judge panel later overturned the financial penalty. Her office is appealing to reinstate it.
James's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, dismissed the referrals as politically motivated, stating: 'Frustrated by repeated failures, where judges and grand juries have rejected their attempts to charge Attorney General James, Trump and his political enablers keep abusing their power to pursue a vendetta against her.'
