Letitia James pleads not guilty in Virginia mortgage fraud case
Source: The Guardian
Fri 24 Oct 2025 11.21 EDT
First published on Fri 24 Oct 2025 06.00 EDT
The New York state attorney general, Letitia James, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of bank fraud and false statements brought after Donald Trump publicly called for her to be prosecuted in a move widely seen as political retribution. “Not guilty judge to both counts,” James told the judge as she made her first appearance in federal district court in Virginia. The case has been assigned to Judge Jamar Walker, who was nominated by Joe Biden.
The five-page indictment against James accused her of falsely claiming in loan documents that she would use a home she bought in Norfolk, Virginia, as a secondary residence in order to get more favorable loan terms, when she in fact used it as an investment property. But the charges, which were filed by Trump’s hand-picked US attorney Lindsey Halligan, came over the objections of career prosecutors who believed there was insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and said that James did not materially profit from the loan.
James is also expected to soon submit a motion to dismiss the indictment, according to court filings, on grounds that Halligan was improperly appointed and since she alone filed the charges, the entire case should be thrown out.
The prosecution comes at a turbulent time for the justice department, which has found itself itself buffeted by constant pressure from Trump and other administration officials to pursue cases against their perceived political enemies regardless of the strength underlying evidence.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/24/letitia-james-mortgage-case-hearing
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