Tag: fraud

2 LA men charged with fraud in misuse of public funds meant for combating homelessness

Two Los Angeles-area men faced federal charges in separate criminal cases as they are both accused of fraudulently acquiring public funds that were allocated to address homelessness and build affordable housing, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday.

Cody Holmes of Beverly Hills was in custody as of Thursday after he allegedly used fake bank records to receive nearly $26 million from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for Shangri-La Industries LLC, for which he previously served as a CFO.

The money from Project Homekey was supposed to be used to build affordable housing in Thousand Oaks, but instead, Holmes, 31, spent the money to pay credit card bills and purchase good at luxury retailers, the DOJ alleged.

“Even though the developer received all the money from the state, the developer did not complete the construction of the Thousand Oaks project,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference Thursday. “Essentially, he stole the money.”

In a separate case, Steven Taylor, a developer and real state agent, of Brentwood was released on a $3.6 million bond, the DOJ said, after he was charged with bank fraud, identity theft and money laundering.

Federal investigators said Taylor also used fake bank records to obtain loans and lines of credit. The 44-year-old is accused of using the fraudulently obtained funds to flip a Cheviot Hills home and selling it to a homeless housing developer for more than double his original purchase.

“Taylor had contracted to sell the property, which he acquired for only $11 million, fraudulently, to Weingart, a homeless housing developer, that purchased the property for a whopping $27 million in a transaction that was hidden from the victim lender and others,” Essayli added.

Akil Davis, FBI’s assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office. said Taylor also tried to enrich his business in high-end neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

“Taylor’s actions not only misled banks, but also took advantage of the city and state’s efforts to combat the homelessness crisis, Davis said.

Keep reading

Letitia James’ ‘fugitive’ relative who lives in her Virginia home was arrested twice for assaulting cops: docs

New York’s top law enforcer is housing a cop-hating fugitive relative with a lengthy felony rap sheet — who was twice arrested for assaulting police officers — at one of her Virginia homes, according to court documents.

State Attorney General Letitia James’ grandniece, Nakia Thompson, 36, is wanted for “absconding” from North Carolina after failing to complete the terms of her parole following a 2011 arrest in Winston-Salem, authorities said.

In that case, she was charged with malicious conduct by a prisoner, a felony, along with assault of a government official and resisting a public officer, court records show.

But Thompson has also been repeatedly arrested and cited in Virginia, since moving there — with charges including possession of burglary tools, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and grand larceny.

Since 2020, Thompson has been living at a house owned by James in Norfolk, which is now at the center of a criminal indictment against the AG.

That same year, Thompson was given two years’ probation and ordered to pay $2,020 in fees after she pleaded guilty to petit and grand larceny charges — both felonies, according to court records.

She also had a handful of misdemeanor charges dropped, as well as the felony burglary tools possession charge. 

She has also racked up nine separate vehicle offenses, including as recently as this summer.

In July, Thompson was hit with four citations in a single day, including driving 80 mph in a 55 zone and stopping her vehicle improperly on a highway.

The year before she was once again ticketed for going 80 in a 55, and got a summons for improper child restraint, for which she was later found guilty in absentia and fined $50.

Keep reading

Rules for Thee, Fraud for Me: Letitia James Prosecuted Mortgage Fraud Case Mirroring the Charges Against Her

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.

Keep reading

This is the mortgage document New York AG Letitia James signed that has her facing 60 years in prison

A one-page mortgage document signed by New York state Attorney General Letitia James is at the center of the federal criminal charges for which she now faces 60 years in federal prison.

In the “second home rider” for her mortgage, which was obtained by The Post, James attested that the property would be a second home occupied primarily by her.

It allowed her to secure a better mortgage rate from Old Virginia Mortgage/Annie Mac — netting her nearly $19,000 in mortgage savings, according to federal prosecutors.

In reality, James’ serial criminal grandniece, Nakia Thompson, moved in soon after she closed on the house, according to the New York Times.

Much of the strength of the case — which alleges James committed federal bank fraud and made misstatements to a financial institution — could rest on whether Thompson was paying rent.

Keep reading

Top immigration official warns naturalization fraudsters could be stripped of citizenship

After a joint operation by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) found “mass patterns” of marriage and other immigration fraud in Minneapolis, the agency’s director says denaturalization and prosecutions are on the table. 

Operation Twin Shield, which was conducted by USCIS in coordination with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, flagged over 1,000 cases suspected of involving “fraud or ineligibility indicators,” the agency shared in an after-action announcement. 

The agency reviewed applications for immigration benefits, including marriage and family-based petitions, employment authorizations, and certain parole-related requests, the agency said. Of the cases reviewed, the agency found “evidence of fraud, non-compliance, or public safety or national security concerns” in 275 cases.

Widespread fraud in immigration landscape

“So we went, and our plan was to start getting some resources together to go after marriage fraud. What we did over the course of about two weeks—it was a joint operation with us and ICE, CBP, DEA, FBI, all were involved—we were able to find mass patterns of not only marriage fraud, naturalization fraud, we found fraud within the OPT, the optional practical training process, [and] we found it within H-1Bs,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow told the “Just the News, No Noise“ TV show. 

“Now we’re taking all that information back. We’re going through it, seeing what applications need to be reopened, what benefits need to be denied. And I’m working with the US Attorney out there to start sending a couple cases for prosecution, hopefully, many cases for prosecution,” Edlow added. 

The director said that a denaturalization process is possible for certain cases if they meet the criteria. 

“[We] do have processes both for civil and criminal denaturalization. It’s something that’s on the books, so we can do it. There are some criteria that have to be met in terms of what was the fraud? Was the fraud part of their scheme to ultimately get naturalization? Was it committed before or after they got naturalization? So there’s a lot of different factors that play a role here,” said Edlow. 

Keep reading

Paper Chase: A Global Industry Fuels Scientific Fraud in the U.S.

In southern India, a new enterprise called Peer Publicon Consultancy offers a full suite of services to scientific researchers. It will not only write a scholarly paper for a fee but also guarantee publishing the fraudulent work in a respected journal.   

It is one of many “paper mills” that have emerged across Asia and Eastern Europe over the last two decades. Paper mills are having remarkable success peddling tens of thousands of bogus academic journal papers and authorships to university and medical researchers seeking to pad their resumes in highly competitive fields. 

These sophisticated outfits also engage in trickery to get papers published, infiltrating journals with their own editors and reviewers and even resorting to bribery, according to investigators and a white paper from Wiley, a New Jersey-based publisher. The scale of the fraud is eye-popping: One Wiley subsidiary, Hindawi, retracted more than 8,000 articles two years ago for suspected paper mill involvement. 

U.S. universities and regulators have been able to brush off the threat of paper mills because they have mostly sold their services in China, where research integrity standards are rarely enforced, according to experts. But these rogue operators are building on their success in Asia and expanding to the U.S. and Western Europe, where the prize is the prestige of naming an author on an article from a famous university. 

“Paper mills have become a huge business,” said Jennifer Byrne, professor of molecular oncology at the University of Sydney, who studies the enterprises. “If some journals are pushing back on papers from China, and they probably are, it makes sense that paper mills will try to diversify their clientele and start working with people in different countries.” 

 As paper mills expand from the fringe to the center of research, placing professional-looking articles in high-impact journals owned by major publishers like Springer Nature, experts worry about the potential harm to scientific discovery. Researchers willing to break the rules in a Darwinian world of ‘publish or perish’ may mislead other scientists who incorporate their false findings into their own work. “We know little about the actual impact of paper mills on research,” Byrne says. “But if scientists are building on bad information, they are wasting resources and not making progress in their fields.”

Keep reading

New Evidence Emerges Against Indicted Democrat Mayor of New Orleans in Corruption Case

A superseding federal indictment has unveiled new evidence against New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat already facing corruption allegations, and former NOPD officer Jeffrey Vappie. 

Prosecutors now claim the two engaged in a years-long fraud scheme that misused city funds to conceal their romantic relationship and bankroll luxury travel.

According to the filing, Cantrell and Vappie exchanged more than 15,000 WhatsApp messages, photos, and audio clips in just eight months. 

During that period, they coordinated at least 14 domestic and international trips, racking up more than $70,000 in travel expenses billed to the city.

Vappie allegedly claimed on-duty hours during the trips, while serving on Cantrell’s executive protection detail, even though prosecutors say much of the travel was personal.

The indictment goes further, alleging that Cantrell and Vappie used WhatsApp not just for personal communication but also to intimidate subordinates, harass a private citizen, delete records, and mislead investigators. 

Federal prosecutors say the pair attempted to obstruct justice by concealing evidence and offering false testimony to a federal grand jury.

Cantrell herself is accused of abusing her office to protect Vappie from scrutiny. 

Prosecutors allege she pressured then-Interim NOPD Superintendent Michelle Woodfork to halt an internal probe into Vappie, despite findings that raised concerns. 

Cantrell also allegedly demanded Vappie’s reassignment to her security detail, even after red flags had been raised, and concealed responsive WhatsApp records from a grand jury subpoena.

The 18-count indictment represents an escalation of a case that has dogged Cantrell for months, combining allegations of fraud, obstruction, and misuse of public funds. 

While Vappie previously entered a not-guilty plea, Cantrell has consistently denied wrongdoing and accused her critics of political motivation.

Still, the mounting evidence paints a damaging picture for the city’s top official. 

The indictment details patterns of excessive travel, manipulation of police resources, and alleged efforts to sidestep accountability. 

For residents of New Orleans, the charges revive long-standing concerns about corruption in City Hall and misuse of taxpayer money.

Cantrell, who first took office in 2018, has faced growing criticism in recent years over crime, public safety, and fiscal management.

 This latest legal development adds to those pressures, with prosecutors signaling they intend to make the mayor’s conduct central to the corruption case.

If convicted, Cantrell could face severe penalties, and the scandal could reshape the political landscape in New Orleans, where faith in city leadership has already eroded.

Keep reading

CNN’s Kasie Hunt Suggests Every American Commits Mortgage Fraud… and Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte Wants Answers

CNN’s Kasie Hunt ran cover for Letitia James after a grand jury returned an indictment on Thursday.

Corrupt New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday.

According to the DOJ, Letitia James was charged with two crimes: Bank Fraud under 18 U.S.C. Section 1344 and False Statements to a Financial Institution under 18 U.S.C. Section 1014.

CNN’s Kasie Hunt suggested every American commits mortgage fraud on Thursday evening to water down the charges against Letitia James.

Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte wants answers after Kasie Hunt suggested every American commits mortgage fraud.

“We will start by requesting information into the VERY concerning public statements of Ms. Kasie Hunt that she has knowledge of individuals who are committing alleged mortgage bank fraud. If Ms. Hunt is aware of anyone committing fraud, we will need to know — and now,” Pulte said.

Keep reading

Grand Jury Indicts NY AG Letitia James On Criminal Bank Fraud, CNN Reports

A federal grand jury in Eastern Virginia has indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on one count of bank fraud, multiple outlets are reporting. 

US Attorney Lindsey Halligan presented the case to the grand jury on Thursday, according to sources, one month after she was installed in her role.

As noted in August, a criminal referral was filed against James, alleging that she had “falsified records” to get home loans for a Virginia property that she claimed was her “principal residence” in 2023 – while she was serving as a New York state prosecutor.

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte sent the missive to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche, claiming that in late August 2023 – weeks before she launched her civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization for inflating the values of its properties.

In 2021, James also purchased a 5-family Brooklyn property, but has “consistently misrepresented the same property as only having four units in both building permit applications and numerous mortgage documents and applications,” the letter noted.

Loans secured for this property could have reduced her mortgage interest rate by as much as 1% – leaving James with lower monthly payments under the federal Home Assistance Modification Program (HAMP) since it was listed as containing just four units, according to Pulte.

Keep reading

Why Isn’t the Department of Justice Prosecuting Letitia James for Mortgage Fraud?

Republican strategist Roger Stone asked bluntly on Twitter on Saturday, “Who at the DOJ is blocking the prosecution of the entire Russian Collusion cabal as well as crooks like Letitia James and Adam Schiff?”

President Donald Trump has echoed similar frustrations on Truth Social, demanding action against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who pursued the civil fraud case against himself and his organization in New York.

The question now reverberating through conservative circles is clear: why is the Department of Justice refusing to act?

One of Donald Trump’s most consequential missteps during his first term was his refusal to take control of the Department of Justice, the very branch he led as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

Trump seemed to be intimidated by the media and Democrats who screamed for the DOJ to remain “independent.”

As a result, the DOJ launched investigations and prosecutions targeting Trump and his allies, from Paul Manafort to Roger Stone, while ignoring mounting evidence of misconduct by government officials involved in the Russia hoax.

When Joe Biden took over, the DOJ became even more partisan, prosecuting January 6 protesters and Donald Trump himself.

For his second term, Trump vowed reform. His initial choice for Attorney General, Congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew amid congressional backlash, leading to the appointment of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

But Bondi’s record of capitulating to the mob was largely unknown. In 2012 in Florida, she bowed to media and protesters led by Al Sharpton and Ben Crump by appointing a special prosecutor in the George Zimmerman case, despite the police having already ruled the shooting of Trayvon Martin as self-defense.

My 2019 film, The Trayvon Hoax, exposed the entire prosecution as a hoax based on a fake witness. Zimmerman’s acquittal was the reason for the founding of the Black Lives Matter group.

Bondi’s caving in was thus responsible for BLM’s formation and the mayhem that followed, including “hands up don’t shoot” and the George Floyd riots.

When questioned about decision-making for today’s DOJ, Trump has repeatedly said, “it’s up to Pam.” But this “hands off” deference may once again prove costly.

As documented in my investigative reports in The Gateway Pundit beginning in March 2025, Letitia James engaged in 24 years of mortgage fraud and housing regulation violations in connection with her 5-unit Brooklyn apartment building.

Keep reading