{"id":24994,"date":"2025-11-01T10:26:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T10:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/24994\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T10:26:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T10:26:17","slug":"judge-hands-doj-win-in-letitia-james-mortgage-fraud-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/24994\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge hands DOJ win in Letitia James\u2019 mortgage fraud case"},"content":{"rendered":"

The judge overseeing Letitia James\u2019 mortgage fraud case<\/a> on Friday denied a motion from the New York attorney general attempting to force federal prosecutors to keep a log of all their communications with the media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell filed the motion last week, when James was arraigned on bank fraud and false statements charges, in response to a report that US Attorney Lindsey Halligan<\/a> sent a flurry of encrypted Signal messages<\/a> about the case to a reporter.<\/p>\n

\u201c[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,\u201d\u00a0US District Judge Jamar Walker wrote in his six-page order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant\u2019s request that the government be required to keep a communication log is DENIED,\u201d the Biden-appointed judge ruled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewJames\u2019 attorney had asked the judge to order that federal prosecutors maintain a log of communications with reporters. AP<\/p>\n

Walker noted that Halligan\u2019s Signal chat with Lawfare senior editor Anna Bower earlier this month was \u201cunusual\u201d but he declined to offer an opinion \u201con whether they were improper in any sense, either legal or ethical.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judge ordered federal prosecutors to comply with all court rules, but didn\u2019t suggest any had been broken.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also ordered a \u201clitigation hold preventing the deletion or destruction of any records or communications having to do with the investigation or prosecution of this case.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Halligan\u2019s Signal messages to the Bower were set to disappear after eight hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judge, however, did not rule on whether Halligan\u2019s message \u2014 which cast doubt on a New York Times report disclosing that James\u2019 grandniece testified to a grand jury that she never paid rent on the Norfolk, Va., property<\/a> at the center of the case \u2014 amounted to material subject to discovery rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he Court is not persuaded that preservation of evidence related to the government\u2019s communications requires such evidence be maintained in any particular form,\u201d Walker wrote. \u201cThe defendant does not demonstrate that a communication log is necessary, so the Court will not order the government to maintain one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court trusts that counsel on both sides will comply with this Order without further handholding.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to James\u2019 motion, federal prosecutors had asked Walker to place a gag order on the New York attorney general, which he declined to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LindseyThe motion was filed after it was revealed that Halligan had been sending messages to a reporter on Signal. AP<\/p>\n

James pleaded not guilty last week to one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The longtime Donald Trump foe bought a three-bedroom, one-bathroom residence on Peronne Avenue in Norfolk with a $109,600 loan on Aug. 17, 2020, which was completed with a second home rider designating James as the \u201csole borrower to occupy and use the property,\u201d according to the indictment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That statement netted the Empire State\u2019s top law enforcement officer more favorable mortgage terms that benefited her to the tune of nearly $19,000.<\/p>\n

However, prosecutors say the home \u201cwas not occupied or used\u201d by James, but \u201cwas instead used as a rental investment property\u201d to house her grandniece, Nakia Thompson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James faces up to 60 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million if convicted of both counts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The judge overseeing Letitia James\u2019 mortgage fraud case on Friday denied a motion from the New York attorney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[419,1082,398,9,11,10,87,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-24994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-courts","9":"tag-justice-department","10":"tag-letitia-james","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}