New York Attorney General Letitia James has long portrayed herself as a crusader for justice, particularly when it comes to holding powerful figures accountable for financial misconduct.
But a closer examination of the estate of her late father, Robert James, reveals a disturbing and ironic tale of legal manipulation, family dysfunction, and possible fraud – with Letitia James herself at the center.
In 1983, three years before Robert James’s death in 1986, Letitia James was just 24 years old and living at her family’s two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with seven siblings. She had not yet entered law school.
That’s when she and her father, Robert James, applied for a mortgage loan to purchase a small home at 114-04 Inwood Street in Queens as “husband and wife.”
According to federal law, misrepresenting one’s relationship on a loan application is a form of “false representation,” or mortgage fraud, a serious offense punishable by fines or imprisonment.
Though Robert James died in 1986, it wasn’t until 1999 that Letitia James filed for letters of administration over his estate. The Inwood Street house she purchased with her father was listed as the only asset.
Hellbound and Down 