by Sharon Rondeau
(Apr. 18, 2025) — With a timestamp of 12:28 AM Friday, President Donald Trump posted on his TruthSocial account a video from last night’s Newsmax broadcast of a monologue and exposé by anchor Rob Schmitt concerning New York Attorney General Letitia James, who on Monday was referred for criminal prosecution to the U.S. Justice Department for alleged mortgage fraud.
As Schmitt demonstrated in the montage of her past comments, James has harbored a yearslong determination to prosecute Trump, his family and associates for what she described as “the art of the steal,” a play on the title of Trump’s 1987 bestseller, co-written with Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal.”
“THE IRONY IS THICK,” the caption on a photo of James read as Schmitt criticized James’s past positions on Trump, juxtaposing them against the allegations in the criminal referral written by Federal Housing Finance Administration Director William J. Pulte to the Justice Department.
Now in her second term as the highest law-enforcement official in New York State, during her 2018 campaign James declared her intent to investigate Trump, his family and businesses while declaring Trump an “illegitimate president,” “con man” and “carnival barker.”
She congratulated Trump after he won re-election in 2024 but at the same time warned, “We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result, and my office has been preparing for several months because we’ve been here before. We’ve faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back, and we are prepared to fight back once again.”
She reminded her audience her office “took nearly 100 legal actions against the previous Trump administration…” regarding a “Muslim ban,” reproductive “rights” and funding for city police officers, among other items she and other “Democratic” attorneys general championed.
During his first term, James referred to Trump as “too male, too pale and too stale,” with supporters joining in the chant which emanated (5:41 in video).
James’s 2022 civil suit against Trump alleging he inflated the values of his properties and defrauded both lending institutions and average New Yorkers played out in a Manhattan courtroom last year, resulting in the state’s largest-ever civil judgment of $454 million against the Trump Organization. The order also barred Trump and his two elder sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as several others, from serving as officers or directors any New York-based corporation for a period of three years.
“White-collar financial crime is not a victimless crime,” James is seen declaring of Trump at 3:56 in Schmitt’s montage. “When the well-connected break the law to take in more money that [sic] they are entitled to, it reduces resources to working people, to regular people, to small businesses and to all taxpayers. Everyday people cannot lie to a bank about how much money they have in order to get a favorable loan to buy a home or to send their kid to college, and if they did, the government would throw the book at them.”
Trump and his legal team denied all wrongdoing and appealed the judgment, successfully obtaining an order lowering it to less than half that amount.
“Based on media reports, Ms. Letitia James has, in multiple instances, falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms,” Pulte wrote to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, formerly one of Trump’s defense attorneys for the suit brought by James. “This has potentially included 1) falsifying residence status for a Norfolk, Virginia-based home in order to secure a lower mortgage rate and 2) misrepresenting property descriptions to meet stringent requirements for government backed loans and government assistance.”
The documents at the heart of the allegations against James as well as Pulte’s letter were first revealed by Sam Antar, owner of the White Collar Fraud blog, appearing to show she indicated a Norfolk, VA home purchased in August 2023, just prior to the beginning of Trump’s civil trial, would serve as her “primary residence.”
A co-purchaser and relative of James was designated as James’s power of attorney in executing the documents.
New York law requires public servants to reside within its borders.
James responded to the allegations against her by describing them as “baseless retaliation” for her prosecution of Trump and amounting to “nothing more than a headline.”
In a post Friday morning, Newsweek acknowledged the documents appearing to show James’s malfeasance were first published by Antar.
Newsweek additionally reported:
New York State law holds: “When an officeholder removes his residence from the territorial limits required by statute, the office is rendered vacant.” Experts have told Newsweek that James could face fraud charges but that it is more likely she will face political ramifications, not legal ones, even though there is a legal path to have her removed from office.
“The mortgage company also has legal standing to pursue damages if lower interest was in fact obtained as a result of a false declaration of residency,” New York City trial attorney Nicole Brenecki told Newsweek. “However, this appears to be the most far-fetched scenario as litigation is timely and costly, and the potential damages would have to outweigh this expense.”
Following the James montage, Schmitt hosted Antar in-studio, revealing he is a forensic accountant with “a colorful past.”
As revealed on his blog:
Sam E. Antar is a former certified public accountant whose career trajectory took a remarkable turn from perpetrator to investigator of financial fraud. As the former chief financial officer (CFO) of Crazy Eddie, a major consumer electronics chain in the Northeastern United States during the 1980s, Antar was a key figure in one of the decade’s largest securities fraud schemes.
…Following his criminal conviction, Antar redirected his expertise toward forensic accounting, leveraging his firsthand knowledge of financial fraud to help combat white-collar crime. His unique perspective and technical expertise have made him an expert advisor to various clients, including:
- Government agencies
- Law enforcement organizations
- Law firms and accounting firms
- Independent investment research firms
- Hedge funds and public companies
Through his “White Collar Fraud” blog, Antar has established himself as a prominent voice in exposing financial misconduct. His investigative work spans multiple areas:
- Government corruption
- Campaign finance irregularities
- Misappropriation of taxpayer funds
- Political manipulation of statistics
- Securities fraud
- Accounting discrepancies in public companies
…Antar’s analyses have proven valuable to regulatory bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and have been used in class action lawsuits against companies with questionable accounting practices. The Journal of Accountancy endorsed his work in December 2008, and the Huffington Post named him among the 25 most influential figures in financial media in June 2012.
Today, Sam Antar continues to serve as a leading authority on white-collar crime, using his experience and expertise to help identify and prevent financial fraud. His transformation from perpetrator to investigator has given him unique insights into the mechanisms of financial crime and the methods needed to combat it.
When Schmitt asked Antar to explain what the documents signify, he responded that James created two issues of concern with the purchase. The first, he said, was she “lied on a power of attorney.”
“Would anybody really believe that she was going to move to Virginia in the middle of the Trump trial?” he asked rhetorically.
“Section 6 of the mortgage,” he continued, “…states that the borrower, meaning her and her niece, have to occupy the property as their primary residence within 60 days. Not one or the other; both.”
“What was the motivation to do this?” Schmitt asked. “Why lie?”
“Lower interest rates,” Antar responded. “I call her a petty thief.”
The interview briefly touched on the Manhattan case wherein District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records, obtaining jury convictions on all 34 last May.
Ultimately, following the election, no punishment ensued, interim Judge Juan Merchan, a Democrat, declared at a sentencing hearing ten days before Trump took office for the second time.
In that regard, Antar told Schmitt Trump “is not a real felon. I’m a real felon.”
Trump “didn’t do anything wrong,” Antar continued. Further, he said, “You should have listened to the appellate arguments, because it seems like they’re going to write an opinion that’s going to vacate the entire case.”
Another piece of evidence contained in the documentation, Antar said, was “discovered by Joel Gilbert, not me. I don’t want to take credit for anybody’s work.” The evidence showed James declared her father to be her husband on a 1983 loan application. “She bought the house as father and daughter,” he said, “and then, when they did the mortgage, it was husband and wife. Also, you get different underwriting as husband and wife than if you buy it as partners, or two family members.”
In the remaining minutes, Schmitt and Antar discussed several other allegations against James concerning airline flights and a five-unit apartment building she reportedly misrepresented as four units when it consisted of five, presumably to obtain more favorable financing terms.
In the final moments of the interview, Antar made an eye-opening observation about his experiences with the FBI.