Attorney General Letitia James, the architect of New York state’s mortgage-fraud crackdowns, now finds herself in the position of her former defendants, accused of exploiting the very system she once claimed to defend. The hypocrisy is undeniable.
Any attempt by Letitia James to claim ignorance of the law as a defense in her mortgage fraud indictment is all but gone.
In June 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James stood before the cameras to hail a conviction she called a triumph against mortgage fraud.
The case involved a $1.3 million scheme by Brooklyn couple John F. Iacono and Shpresa Gjekovic, whom James accused of “a deliberate scheme to enrich themselves at the expense of hardworking New Yorkers.”
At the time, she declared the prosecution was proof that “no one is above the law”.
But today, now under indictment for mortgage fraud herself, that speech reads less like a moment of triumph and more like an act of projection.
The accompanying quote from Attorney General James remains striking for its tone of moral absolutism.
“Iacono and Gjekovic falsified document after document in order to pad their own pockets,” James said. “Let this serve as a warning to all of those who try to carry out such deliberate schemes: There is no place in this state for individuals who try to cash in at the expense of hardworking New Yorkers.”
Those words, “no place in this state,” once echoed across newsrooms as the declaration of a moral crusader.
Her CUFFS Initiative (Combatting Upstate Financial Frauds and Schemes) was marketed as a model for restoring faith in financial integrity, pairing state police with prosecutors to “expose deceitful plots” and reinforce public trust.
Hellbound and Down 