The Trump administration has submitted new criminal referrals to the U.S. Department of Justice involving Letitia James, according to reporting confirmed by Fox News. The referrals were filed by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and allege potential insurance fraud connected to properties associated with James.
The matter has been forwarded to U.S. attorneys in Florida and Illinois for review. “The Department of Justice can confirm that referrals were received by our U.S. Attorney Offices,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News. Both referrals obtained by the outlet alleged “suspected homeowners insurance fraud.”
The referrals follow earlier legal developments involving James, including the dismissal of bank fraud charges late last year by a federal judge appointed by Bill Clinton. A grand jury in Virginia subsequently declined to re-indict her, Fox reported.
The judge dismissed indictments against James and former FBI Director James Comey, ruling that the charges were invalid because they had been filed by a U.S. attorney who was not properly authorized to bring the case.
Pulte said in one of the referrals that it appears James “may have falsified information on her homeowners insurance application” to a Fort Lauderdale-based company, Universal Property Insurance.
The criminal referral was sent to Jason Quinones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who will determine whether to pursue a case. Any prosecution would require approval from a grand jury. The referral also references social media posts by Mike Davis, a longtime attorney and a Trump ally.
Pulte stated that based on the post from Davis, the New York attorney general “may have made false representations that her property would be unoccupied five months out of the year.” According to the post, that information appears to be false, Pulte stated.
“The house was, in fact, occupied year-round by her niece,” he continued. “As such, it appears Ms. James may have defrauded the Florida-based insurance company.”
In a separate referral sent to Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Pulte said James may have defrauded Illinois-based Allstate by allegedly providing false information on a homeowners insurance application.
In November, before James’ case was dismissed, a judge presiding over it rejected a motion seeking to compel federal prosecutors to maintain a log of all their communications with the media.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell had filed the request, following James’ arraignment on charges of bank fraud and making false statements. The motion cited a report alleging that then-acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan exchanged a series of encrypted Signal messages with a reporter regarding the case, the New York Post reported.
“[T]he defendant does not demonstrate that it is necessary for the Court to order the government to track communications with the media in any particular form,” wrote US District Judge Jamar Walker in his six-page order.
“The defendant’s request that the government be required to keep a communication log is DENIED,” the Biden-appointed judge ruled. Walker further wrote that while Halligan’s Signal chat with Lawfare senior editor Anna Bower earlier this month was “unusual,” he nevertheless declined to offer an opinion “on whether they were improper in any sense, either legal or ethical.”
He went on to order federal prosecutors to follow all rules of the court but did not suggest that they had violated any so far. He also ordered a “litigation hold preventing the deletion or destruction of any records or communications having to do with the investigation or prosecution of this case.”
Halligan’s Signal messages to the reporter were configured to automatically disappear after eight hours, The Post reported.
The judge did not address whether Halligan’s communications — which reportedly disputed a New York Times story revealing that James’ grandniece told a grand jury she had never paid rent on the Norfolk, Va., property at the center of the case — constituted material subject to discovery requirements.