NORFOLK, Virginia — 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.
But the relative of New York’s top prosecutor told a grand jury in June that she was living rent-free in the three-bedroom, one-bath house, the Times reported.
James’ signature appears at the bottom of the mortgage rider, dated Aug. 17, 2020, which explicitly lays out what the home can and cannot be used for.
Among the covenants on the rider were a requirement that James would “occupy and use” the property as a second home, and maintain “exclusive control” over its occupancy.
She also attested that the property would be available “primarily” for her personal use for at least one year.
The signed document forbids any “shared ownership arrangement” requiring her to rent the property out or “give a management firm or any other person or entity any control over the occupancy or use of the Property,” and that it would be “primarily” for her own personal use.
It goes so far as to include a section saying James would be considered in default on the $109,600 loan if she or anyone else acting at her direction gave “inaccurate information or statements” regarding her occupancy of the residence as a second home.
Much of the case could hinge on Thompson’s statement that she wasn’t paying rent.
Prosecutors said in their indictment that James filed tax documents showing she spent zero days in the house and that she received thousands of dollars in rental income. She also claimed exemptions for money she spent on the property, according to the documents.
However, Thompson’s criminal record could come back to harm James, one legal expert said.
The 36-year-old is a fugitive from justice in North Carolina, where she pleaded guilty to assaulting a cop in 2011. She also has a lengthy rap sheet in Virginia, including grand larceny and possession of burglary tools.
If Thompson was called as a defense witness, prosecutors would seek to use her criminal history to discredit her testimony, said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani.
“It’ll be up to the judge in the case to decide whether to allow Thompson’s criminal history to be used to impeach her,” she said.
James was hit with federal charges out of the Eastern District of Virginia last week, alleging the home “was not occupied or used by James as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental investment property.”
Her alleged misrepresentation of the domicile as a second home allowed James to obtain a lower interest rate of 3%, US Attorney for Eastern Virginia Lindsey Halligan alleges, which saved New York’s top cop $18,933 in interest payments and seller credits.
James has denied wrongdoing and claimed the charges are the result of political targeting by the Trump administration.
She was defiant as she appeared at a Zohran Mamdani rally in Washington Heights on Monday.
“We see powerful voices trying to silence truth and punish dissent and weaponize justice for political gain,” she told supporters of the Democratic socialist NYC mayoral front-runner.
“We are witnessing the fraying of our democracy, the erosion of our system of government,” James grandiosely stated, describing the current state of politics as “a defining moment in our history.”
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