This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Scandal-plagued New York Attorney General Letitia James, already referred to the Department of Justice for investigation of alleged fraud, now also is facing a possible investigation by the state bar association, for violating ethics rules that apply to lawyers.
The DOJ referral came just days ago from William J. Pulte, the chief of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, and alleged James, a Democrat who repeatedly has created cases to attack President Donald Trump, "In multiple instances, falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government-backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms."
Specifically, she's accused of falsely stating on a legal document that her main residence was in Norfolk, Virginia, to get a lower mortgage rate, and also misrepresenting the number of apartments in a building she owns, also in order to get more favorable loan terms.
Now a report from Fox News explains the legal nonprofit America First Legal has filed a state-level ethics complaint against her.
"If what Director Pulte uncovered is true, then we have a sitting state attorney general who made false certifications to the United States in return for federal benefits," explained AFL chief Dan Epstein.
The complaint charges James is in violation of the New York State Bar Association's rules of professional conduct, which prohibit lawyers from engaging in "illegal conduct" that can adversely impact the lawyer's honesty and trustworthiness.
The rules also bar conduct that may not be "illegal," but involves "dishonesty."
James' office already has hired a defense lawyer to represent her on the charges.
The lawyer claimed the subjects of the DOJ referral are, in fact, just "mistakes" that were made. Among those was that she was listed as the "spouse" of her father in at least one instance.
A report at Just the News explained, "If James committed mortgage fraud, then AFL alleges that would have violated Rules 8.4(b) and 8.4(c) of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct. The two rules prohibit attorneys from 'engag[ing] in illegal conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer,' and from 'engag[ing] in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.'"
Previously reported was that Joel Gilbert, a Los Angeles-based film producer, suggested James lied on various forms to obtain favorable real estate mortgage terms on a building she owns.
James was the state prosecutor who created a real estate fraud case against President Donald Trump, in which she claimed fraudulent activities in the valuation of his properties and his work to obtain various loans for his real estate business.
She brought the lawfare case against Trump and obtained a fraud judgment against him from a left-leaning judge who imposed damages of hundreds of millions of dollars even though witnesses during the trial testified Trump paid off every loan in full and on time, they did not lose any money and they wanted to do business with him again.
That judgment and penalty, from Arthur Engoron, now is on appeal.
The Gateway Pundit said for more than two decades, James has "repeatedly claimed her Brooklyn apartment building was a four-unit property on mortgage applications – despite official records proving it had five."
The report explained, "This may seem a minor discrepancy, but misrepresenting the unit count enabled her to secure more favorable loans, including a 2011 Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) loan that saved her tens of thousands of dollars annually."
The report includes online postings of various documents, including a Brooklyn Department of Buildings Certificate of Occupancy for the address that shows one family residence in the basement, one the first floor, one on the second, and two on the third.
But James repeatedly has described it as a four-unit building in mortgage applications.
