Tag: corruption

How Letitia James’s Fake Marriage to Her Dad Sparked a Lifetime of Mortgage Fraud

How did Letitia James’s claim that she married her father in order to qualify for her first loan evolve into a lifetime of mortgage and bank fraud?

It all began in the spring of 1983, when a 24-year-old Letitia James and her father, Robert James, posing as “husband and wife,” took out a real-estate loan for $30,300 from Kadilac Funding Ltd. for the purchase of a two-story townhome in Queens. The loan document, signed by both, listed “ROBERT JAMES AND LETITIA JAMES, HIS WIFE” in three separate places. This was no clerical error.

At that time, young Letitia likely lacked sufficient income or credit to qualify for a mortgage as a single woman. The fraudulent claim of marriage to her father allowed her to obtain financing she otherwise couldn’t have, an act that meets the legal definition of mortgage fraud under state and federal statutes.

This deception set a precedent for her. Once Letitia discovered that falsifying personal information could deliver tangible financial rewards without consequence, the act of misrepresentation for loans became a lifelong habit.

Decades of mortgage misrepresentations followed. Even after she became the high-profile Attorney General of New York state on January 1, 2019, James continued the same behavior pattern.

In 2020, James purchased a property at 3121 Perone Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia, signing a document claiming it would be her primary or secondary residence, rather than a rental property, to secure a lower interest rate. That misrepresentation recently became part of the criminal indictment against her for mortgage and bank fraud, carrying a potential 30-year prison sentence.

In 2021, James applied for a $200,000 line of credit mortgage from Citizen’s Bank on her 5-unit apartment building in Brooklyn, but in mortgage documents James claimed it only had one apartment unit. Accordingly, James received a lower residential mortgage interest rate she was not entitled to, and avoided a higher commercial loan rate and much higher closing costs.

In 2023, James bought a home at 604 Sterling Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia. Per Sam Antar, Letitia qualified for the loan only after certifying in an updated application that it would be her “primary residence”, even though she lived in Brooklyn.

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Epstein: Dirty Secrets Emerge From a Painful Book — and the Powerful Squirm

The Jeffrey Epstein story ebbs and flows in the national conversation, sometimes seeming a bit less worthy of our attention compared to other urgent matters, only to revive as hot stuff with new developments.

The latest in an endless series of things we need to know about is the posthumously published memoir of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, whose torment by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell began in 2000 and ended in 2002. During that time, she was forced to perform unspeakable acts with the two of them, and others — she said she was “passed around like a platter of fruit.”

To get her to comply and never reveal these horrors, all Epstein had to do was let her know he knew where her little brother went to school. (And he showed her a photo proving it.)

I find this claim believable because someone I know recounted a story from one of his attorneys in a business-related lawsuit against Epstein. He described how during a phone conversation, Epstein mentioned having seen the attorney’s children crossing the street, and warned him to be extra careful so nothing would happen to them.

Back to Giuffre’’s claims: Epstein also bragged that he “owned the Palm Beach police department.” (Manipulating Giuffre was easy: At the age of seven, she had already been molested by a family friend.) Giuffre sued Maxwell and Epstein and became an advocate for other survivors. She committed suicide in April, at the age of 41.

Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice seems to be mentioned all over the place — The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, PBS, CBS, etc. — and it has got to be one of Donald Trump’s worst nightmares, assuming he can even fall asleep.

Because it’s bound to make more and more people demand to see the Epstein files. And to see just how he — Trump — is mentioned.

From the grave, Giuffre powerfully challenges the idea that all those famous people hanging out with Epstein had no inkling what he was up to:

Don’t be fooled by those in Epstein’s circle who say they didn’t know what he was doing. Epstein not only didn’t hide what was happening, he took a certain glee in making people watch. And people did watch — scientists, fundraisers from the Ivy League and other heralded institutions, titans of industry. They watched and they didn’t care.

And this description from on what she had to put up with, and from what sort of men:

[C]hoking, beating and bloodying from a former prime minister, whom she refused to name because “I fear that this man will seek to hurt me if I say his name here.”

As you probably already know, she named, and sued, Prince Andrew. (Note: Giuffre observed no encounters with Donald Trump, but others say they have.)

Related: How Epstein Got Rich: Clue Buried in Lawsuit? – WhoWhatWhy

Whether you think the Jeffrey Epstein story matters or not, the Republicans certainly think it does.

Their most recent effort, in a long series of efforts, to block release of the government’s files on the matter is to indefinitely avoid seating the newest member of the US House, Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ). That’s because she represents the final discharge petition signature needed to force a House vote on releasing those records.

The Grijalva stunt involves House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) claiming that, hey, there’s no reason for the delay and, um, I gotta go.

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Virginia AG candidate Jay Jones has complicated history on blackface scandal that rocked Democrats

emocratic Virginia attorney general hopeful Jay Jones gave an impassioned speech on race in 2019 which criticized then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam over wearing blackface — and then Jones embraced and campaigned with the disgraced Democratic governor during his unsuccessful bid to be attorney general in 2021 and again during his current bid in 2025.

The yearbook photo depicting two people, one dressed up in Ku Klux Klan robes and the other in blackface, appeared on Northam’s 1984 yearbook page at Eastern Virginia Medical School and came to light in early February 2019. Northam quickly admitted he was in the photo and apologized, then backtracked saying he’d actually appeared in blackface a different time.

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, of which Jones was a part, quickly called upon Northam to resign the governorship, and Jones soon gave a fiery speech on the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates where he criticized the use of blackface and argued that the saga was proof that there was a “White Virginia” and a “Black Virginia.”

Jones walks back previous condemnation

In early 2021, Jones would express “remorse” for having called on Northam to step down, and Northam would endorse Jones’s bid to become the Democratic nominee for attorney general a month later. Jones would lead efforts to recruit Jones to run again in 2025 and Jones would again tout Northam’s endorsement this year.

During his first bid to become Virginia attorney general, Jones promoted legislative efforts to divest from the police, pull cops from schools, end qualified immunity for law enforcement, and abolish cash bail. As he centered his unsuccessful 2021 Democratic primary run on police reform and race, he repeatedly invoked Black Lives Matter icons George Floyd and Jacob Blake, claiming that those men could have been him.

Jones pushed for police reforms which echoed the “Defund the Police” mantra of BLM, and repeatedly claimed that he personally felt the knee on his neck and the bullets in his back when watching videos of Floyd and Blake. Jones frequently spoke of the “systemic racism” and the “remnants” of Jim Crow in Virginia, and pushed to get a Virginia cop fired for donating to the legal defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse.

Jones endorsed the June 2020 criminal justice reform plan of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, of which he was a member, with the legislative strategy document of the black caucus including calls to “divest” from law enforcement just days after Floyd’s death and amidst the BLM rallying cry to “Defund the Police.”

Jones tweeted that month that “I’m a proud member” of the black caucus and that “we stand for justice.”

He lost to then-Virginia attorney general Mark Herring in the June 2021 Democratic primary, and Herring — who had also admitted to using blackface in the past — went on to lose to the Republican nominee, then-Delegate Jason Miyares, in the November 2021 election. Jones, who successfully won the Democratic nod this time around, is now seeking to defeat Miyares, who is running for reelection as the state’s highest law enforcement officer.

Jones did not respond to a request for comment sent to him through his campaign website.

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Fauci’s Lies Are Catching up with Him

ver the last year, it has become abundantly clear that Dr. Fauci lied and gaslit Senator Rand Paul during sworn Senate testimony during July of 2021, stating “Sen. Paul, you do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly. And I want to say that officially, you do not know what you’re talking about.”

But it turns out that Senator Paul did know what he was talking about, and it was Fauci who was lying and deflecting, much as he did during his sworn testimony in the case of Missouri vs Biden. Or maybe it was just a memory failure, as Fauci repeatedly claimed during his Missouri v Biden testimony.

Here is the infamous 2021 exchange, as spun by ABC News:

“On May 11, you stated that NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Paul said. He claimed that gain-of-function research — which could, in theory, enhance the transmissibility of a virus — was performed in the lab and referred to an academic paper by a Chinese scientist, which he then asked to be entered into the record and for a copy to be given to Fauci.

“Dr. Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11, where you claimed at the NIH never funded gain-of-function research and move on?” Paul said, repeating his unsupported accusation. <Note: in the paragraph above, ABC news documented that this was actually an accusation supported by a specific reference>

Fauci flatly rejected Paul’s suggestion.

“Sen. Paul, I have never lied before the Congress. And I do not retract that statement,” he said.

Paul suggested Fauci and the NIH could be partly responsible for the pandemic and the deaths of 4 million people worldwide.

The virology expert <Note: I would not call Fauci a virologist. He is a physician and a politician/administrator. This is a form of the logical debate error of “appeal to authority”> explained that the paper Paul referenced does not represent gain-of-function research, and when Paul interrupted, the shouting match ensued.

“Let me finish!” Fauci said, when Paul tried to interject. “Sen. Paul, you do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly. And I want to say that officially, you do not know what you’re talking about.” <Note: and that is an classic example of diversion, gaslighting, and academic bullying.>

Continuing their ongoing feud, the two argued over the definition of gain-of-function. NIH Director Francis Collins, in a statement earlier this year, warning of misinformation, said, “neither NIH nor NIAID have ever approved any grant that would have supported ‘gain-of-function’ research on coronaviruses that would have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans.” <Note: It is now clear that this was another lie>

But Paul would not be swayed.

“You’re dancing around this because you’re trying to obscure responsibility for four million people dying around them from a pandemic,” Paul said.

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Zohran Mamdani Campaigns with Imam Tied to 1993 World Trade Center Bombing

One day after the New York City mayoral debate, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani openly campaigned at a mosque alongside Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Instead of distancing himself, Mamdani proudly highlighted the event.

He even posted about it publicly, as if daring New Yorkers to overlook the danger.

For years, warnings about Mamdani’s ties to Wahhaj have circulated. Wahhaj was named by federal prosecutors as a co-conspirator in the terror plot that killed six and injured more than a thousand.

Despite this, he continues to serve as an imam in New York and has donated to Mamdani’s campaign.

He remains an influential figure in the same activist networks that have normalized radicalism under the banner of “progress.”

The connections don’t stop there. Linda Sarsour, the anti-Israel activist who has publicly defended Hamas sympathizers, calls Wahhaj her mentor.

His son, Siraj Wahhaj Jr., operated a jihadi compound in New Mexico where children were indoctrinated and trained to commit terrorist attacks.

Federal authorities reported that the group stockpiled weapons, plotted mass murder, and buried the remains of children on the site.

Members of the compound received life sentences.

These are the people surrounding Mamdani. These are the networks trying to seize political power in New York City.

Instead of distancing himself, Mamdani embraces them.

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Letitia James’ criminal kin have been charged 11 times in 5 years — but keep getting off easy

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ troubled grandnieces have been charged with a combined eight felonies and three misdemeanors in the past five years — but had their charges downgraded or dropped every time.

The women live in James’ Norfolk, Va., homes, which have been the subject of intense federal scrutiny in recent months over mortgage documents James signed — including a federal criminal indictment that has New York’s top law enforcer facing 60 years in federal prison.

Cayla Thompson-Hairston, 21, an OnlyFans model with an X-rated social media presence, was hit with felony charges in April 2024 for allegedly lying about having a felony criminal record when she tried to buy a gun in Suffolk, Va., according to court documents.

Cops said she was barred from owning a handgun due to a juvenile felony charge of malicious wounding in August 2020.

However, the weapons charges were later dropped entirely.

Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi, a Democrat, said prosecutors later learned the juvenile charges were pleaded down to a misdemeanor.

Suffolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Narendra Pleas, also a Democrat, did not respond to The Post’s request for clarification on why she dropped the charges.

One legal observer said it was concerning that the charges were dropped entirely — particularly in light of Thompson-Hairston’s violent criminal history.

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Jack Smith Referred to DOJ For Criminal Investigation and Disbarment

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith has been criminally referred to the Justice Department for a misconduct investigation and possible disbarment.

After publicly stating she was going to take action, Senator Marsha Blackburn on Friday sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi criminally referring Jack Smith to the DOJ for prosecution and disbarment.

Blackburn demanded that the DOJ take action after it was revealed that Jack Smith spied on several GOP Senators.

Joe Biden’s FBI – and later Jack Smith – spied on eight Republican Senators during the ‘Arctic Frost’ investigation into January 6.

Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson earlier this year released new records detailing the FBI and DOJ’s sweeping investigation that formed the basis of Jack Smith’s DC case against President Trump.

Grassley and Johnson previously blew the lid off another sham investigation orchestrated by Biden’s corrupt Department of Justice and compromised FBI.

According to the documents released earlier this year, the FBI and DOJ weaponized their power to target President Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, and their allies through a probe dubbed “Arctic Frost.”

“Operation Arctic Frost” was a taxpayer-funded witch hunt launched in April 2022 that seized government-issued cell phones belonging to Trump and Pence while conducting a barrage of interviews across the country.

Jack Smith tracked private phone calls of eight GOP Senators.

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Two Deep State Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia FIRED and Escorted From Building For Leaking Following Letitia James Indictment

The Justice Department is cleaning house as Deep State prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia ‘resist’ Trump and leak to the stenographers in the mainstream media.

Two more Deep State prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) have been fired.

Politico reported on Friday that two federal prosecutors in the EDVA – Elizabeth Yusi and Kristin Bird – were fired.

MSNBC confirmed the firing of the two prosecutors after New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to Julie Kelly, the fired prosecutors were escorted from the building and stripped of security clearances for leaking sensitive information to the media.

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Smartmatic Indicted For Money Laundering, Bribery Of Philippine Official

Smartmatic — the company involved in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News over the latter’s reporting on the 2020 election — was indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on Thursday for allegedly bribing a Philippine official in relation to the 2016 Philippine national elections.

The indictment added the parent company of Smartmatic, SGO Corporation Ltd., as a defendant in the case already underway against three Smartmatic executives. The indictment charges that between 2015 and 2018, Smartmatic executives Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, Jorge Miguel Vasquez, and others “caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid” to the former chairman of COMELEC, according to the Department of Justice.

COMELEC stands for the Commission on Elections of the Republic of the Philippines. According to the indictment, COMELEC is an “independent agency mandated to enforce and administer election laws in the Philippines.”

According to the indictment, COMELEC opened the bidding process in 2014 for the lease of 23,000 election machines for the upcoming 2016 election. Smartmatic was awarded a contract in 2015. In 2015, COMELEC awarded a second contract to Smartmatic for the leasing of 70,977 voting machines and services for the 2016 election. Smartmatic was later awarded a third contract.

The indictment alleges that Smartmatic, along with its executives, offered to pay bribes to the COMELEC chairman in order to obtain the contracts, as well as to obtain the “release of favorable value added tax payments.”

In order to pay for the alleged bribes, the indicted co-conspirators allegedly over-invoiced the cost of each voting machine that was used in the 2016 Philippine elections. According to the Department of Justice, “they used coded language, created fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements, and routed transactions through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including within the Southern District of Florida.”

The indictment charges Smartmatic, along with Piñate and Vasquez, with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.

Smartmatic denied the allegations in a statement to The Federalist.

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Scandalous past of Lake Tahoe mayor who resigned after stealing $300,000 from church while claiming she had depression

The former mayor of South Lake Tahoe who resigned after admitting to stealing $300,000 from a church was previously accused of defrauding an insurance company.

Tamara Wallace had served as mayor of the California city since December 2024, and for one year in 2022, but resigned on Monday after admitting to the theft.

The scandal-plagued mayor sent a confessional letter to several local news outlets, blaming her struggles with mental health for stealing from the Presbyterian Church over several years. 

But Wallace also previously faced a lawsuit from Federal Insurance Company, now a subsidiary of insurance firm Chubb, for ‘theft of funds’ totaling over $100,000, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The records reviewed by the outlet showed that Wallace agreed to repay the money after the alleged fraud was discovered in 2006, but then failed to repay the cash, prompting a second lawsuit from the firm in 2021. 

The lawsuits reportedly did not give details over how Wallace allegedly stole from the insurance company, however the first lawsuit was dismissed months after it was filed. 

The second lawsuit alleged that Wallace fraudulently received a payout of $122,193, but then failed to follow a payment plan that she had agreed to 15 years before when it was found to be erroneous. 

The company said Wallace agreed to pay just $200-a-month until the balance was paid off, but she stopped paying around February 2017, despite an agreement that she would be liable for the full amount if she ceased her payments. 

After Wallace was allegedly caught in 2006, she signed a promissory note acknowledging she owed the money and insisted she would pay it back, the company said. 

At the time she stopped paying, Wallace still owed more than $110,000, the Chronicle reported. 

In June 2022 Wallace was ordered by a judge to repay the company, and she signed a second promissory note agreeing to make $400 monthly payments, on top of a $2500 initial payment. 

The emergence of the alleged insurance fraud adds another layer to the political scandal which forced her to leave office earlier this month. 

Dana Tibbitts, a member of the El Dorado County Government Watch group, told the Chronicle after the scandal emerged, ‘the most important thing is that (the theft from the church) was not her first rodeo. 

‘She has been down this road a long time… and we probably don’t know the half of it.’ 

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