President Donald Trump’s top housing official filed two new criminal referrals on Wednesday against New York Attorney General Letitia James. This follows a series of legal battles that have already seen three failed attempts to bring charges over the same Virginia property involved in a previous case.
CNN reported that Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, sent one referral to the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and another to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Both referrals accused James of “suspected homeowners’ insurance fraud.”
According to the report, one referral stated that James “may have defrauded” Allstate in Illinois when she submitted a homeowners insurance application related to her Norfolk, Virginia, home. The second referral claimed she did the same with her application to Florida-based Universal Property Insurance.
CNN noted that both referrals mentioned posts on X by Mike Davis, a longtime Trump legal adviser. A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed to CNN that the Department of Justice received the referrals.
These filings represent the latest twist in a case that has faced numerous setbacks. James was indicted in October 2025 on one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution concerning the Norfolk property.
BREAKING: A Trump official refers New York AG Letitia James for prosecution after a previous case was dismissed. https://t.co/hQe8duAHW1
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 25, 2026
She pleaded not guilty, and a federal judge later dismissed that case, stating that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who secured the indictment, had not been properly appointed.
Following the dismissal, federal prosecutors in Virginia tried twice to obtain a new indictment, but a grand jury rejected the case both times. Reuters reported on December 4, 2025, that the Justice Department could not secure a new indictment after the judge dismissed the earlier prosecution.
A week later, Reuters stated that a federal grand jury again refused to indict James, marking the second rejection in about a week. Together, the dismissed indictment and the two failed attempts at re-indictment total three unsuccessful prosecution efforts before Pulte’s latest referrals.
James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, stated that the new referrals represent political revenge. In a statement to CNN, Lowell said, “Frustrated by repeated failures, where judges and grand juries have rejected their attempts to charge Attorney General James, Trump and his political supporters continue to abuse their power to pursue a vendetta against her by trying to rename, refile, and repeat baseless allegations.”
He added, “These desperate tactics will fail — just as every previous attempt has failed.”
Reporter: The case against Letitia James was investigated for five months and the handpicked attorney could not find any evidence that she committed a crime.
H/T @Acyn
— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) September 22, 2025
The new referrals seem to aim at reopening the same underlying dispute in different federal districts instead of in Virginia, where the previous prosecution collapsed.
CNN reported that if prosecutors decide to move forward now, any new case could closely resemble the mortgage fraud case that the administration was unable to sustain last year.
James has remained one of Trump’s most notable political opponents. Reuters reported in January that she has claimed the investigations are retaliation for the civil fraud case her office brought against Trump’s family business.
That case resulted in a fraud judgment against Trump, although an appeals court later voided the financial penalty while keeping the fraud finding intact.
