U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate alleged mortgage fraud by Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James, several outlets reported Friday.
According to the New York Post, Bondi has tapped former acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Ed Martin to spearhead “the prosecution of James and Schiff for potential mortgage fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud, which carry jail terms of up to 30 years.”
“Attorney General Bondi and President Trump have given me a very serious and mission,” Martin told the outlet. “For months DOJ and the FBI have been working on these two cases, it is my job to stick the landing.”
As The Federalist’s Beth Brelje previously reported, Schiff — a major Trump-Russia collusion hoaxer — was singled out by President Trump in a Truth Social post over allegations of mortgage fraud last month.
“Trump announced that Schiff had been investigated by Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes division, which found Schiff may have committed mortgage fraud for more than a decade after he refinanced one of his homes — the one in Maryland, not the one in California,” Brelje wrote. “According to Trump, from 2009 to 2020, Schiff allegedly declared the Maryland home his primary residence ‘to get a cheaper mortgage and to rip off America.'”
As noted by Brelje, questions surrounding Schiff’s primary residency have been “widely reported” for years, with even left-wing outlets such as CNN reporting on the potential scandal.
For his part, Schiff has reportedly denied any wrongdoing. A then-Schiff Senate campaign spokeswoman told CNN in 2023, “Adam’s California and Maryland addresses have been listed as primary residences for loan purposes because they are both occupied throughout the year and to distinguish them from a vacation property.”
Meanwhile, James has faced similar accusations of committing mortgage fraud.
As The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman reported, U.S. Federal Housing Director William J. Pulte sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice in April alleging James “‘falsified records’ to obtain home loans for a property in Virginia that she claimed in 2023 was her ‘principal residence’ despite serving in New York at the time, according to The [New York] Post.” “The alleged falsification,” Lyman wrote, “occurred weeks before she launched her politically motivated sham trial against the Trump Organization for allegedly inflating the values of its properties.”
Like Schiff, James has denied any wrongdoing in the matter, according to the Post.
Friday’s revelation came to light the same day it was reported the DOJ has launched a grand jury investigation into James over her office’s handling of lawfare against then-candidate Trump leading up to the 2024 election.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood