Trump World Launches Effort That Could Strip Letitia James, New York’s Top Lawyer, of Her Bar License

The legal woes faced by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, are growing with the filing of an ethics complaint against her by a group led by one of President Trump’s most senior advisers, Stephen Miller.America First Legal, a group founded by Mr. Miller, filed a complaint against Ms. James with the the New York State Unified Court System’s Committee on Professional Standards, the group that regulates disciplinary matters for lawyers licensed in the Empire State. The group requests a state probe into allegations that Ms. James committed several acts of mortgage fraud.Those accusations first surfaced in a criminal referral letter to Attorney General Bondi from the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mark Pulte. He alleges that Ms. James listed a Virginia property as her primary residence, that she improperly listed the number of units at her Brooklyn home, and that she was identified as her father’s spouse on another loan application. America First Legal rehearses those claims and argues that “Ms. James falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government-backed assistance, loans, and more favorable loan terms.” New York’s rules for professional conduct for lawyers prohibit attorneys from engaging “in illegal conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer” or engaging “in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.”New York courts have held that “It is well settled that the standard of proof in attorney disciplinary proceedings is a fair preponderance of the evidence,” meaning that the fair steeper “beyond a reasonable doubt” burden is not required. The group encourages the lawyers’ guild to “exercise its statutory authority and launch its own independent investigation into these allegations.” America First Legal writes to the New York lawyers that “if Ms. James has engaged in fraud by deceiving her lenders and the government to obtain financial benefits she would otherwise not be entitled to, then she has engaged in professional misconduct and violated her obligations as a lawyer and is subject to discipline by the New York Bar.”Ms. James’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, dismissed those allegations as amounting to a “revenge tour” against his client that consists of “cherry-picked” evidence. Mr. Lowell, who recently represented the First Son Hunter Biden across his two criminal cases, calls the possibility of criminal charges against New York’s top law enforcement official “retribution.”Mr. Lowell’s argument is that the gathering effort to charge Ms. James — that decision will ultimately be Ms. Bondi’s to make — is payback for the civil fraud verdict Ms. James secured against Mr. Trump in September of 2023. Judge Arthur Engoron found via summary judgment that the frauds committed by the 47th president “leap off the page and shock the conscience.”Judge Engoron imposed a penalty that has since ballooned to more than $460 million. He also barred Mr. Trump and two of his adult sons from doing business in New York and determined that their lack of contrition “borders on the pathological.” Mr. Trump appealed, and during oral arguments an appellate court evinced skepticism toward Judge Engoron’s verdict. America First’s senior legal counsel, Nick Barry, says in a statement that the “best way to restore trust in the legal profession is for the Committee of Professional Standards to investigate the allegations” that Ms. James engaged in “potential fraud for her financial benefit. If the … allegations are accurate, Ms. James should resign her office immediately.”Disbarment is the most severe penalty that a bar association can impose. It usually follows a felony conviction or a formal disciplinary proceeding. Mayor Giuliani was disbarred in New York after an appeals court found that he “flagrantly misused his prominent position as the personal attorney for former President Trump and his campaign.”

Trump World Launches Effort That Could Strip Letitia James, New York’s Top Lawyer, of Her Bar License

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