In the two decades before he became the Democrats’ U.S. Senate nominee in California, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff repeatedly declared in mortgage and election filings that both of his homes – one in California and the other in Maryland – were his “principal residence.” The claims have now prompted an ethics complaint and could be prosecutable as fraud, experts said.
Americans are allowed to claim just one home as their primary residence: the one they live in the majority of the year, according to the federally backed lender Freddie Mac. But Schiff alternately declared both of his properties in the two different states as “principal” on multiple mortgage and election forms dating to 2003 and reviewed by Just the News.
Those declarations over the years won him financial and political benefits like lower mortgage interest rates, tax advantages and the ability to run for election in a California House district.
Schiff and his office did not respond to multiple requests seeking comment by phone or email.
“Principal” residences in two states
In at least three instances, documents show that in 2009 and again in 2011 and 2013, Schiff refinanced his Maryland home and declared it was his “principal residence” at the same time he had declared his principal residence was in the California, according to 2009 and 2011 financing docs for his Burbank condo.
Hellbound and Down 