New York’s Attorney General can’t possibly be this stupid…
James Hickman

When Letitia James campaigned to become Attorney General of New York State, she made one very clear campaign promise: prosecute Donald Trump.

Prosecute him for what? Well, she’d figure that out later.

Never mind that, in America, prosecutors are supposed to investigate crimes to find suspects, not investigate people to find crimes.

But hey, you have to give her credit— Letitia James was one of the few politicians to make good on her campaign promises.

She looked into Trump until she found a “crime”.

Ms. James brought a civil fraud case against Trump, accusing him of overstating the value of his real estate holdings to secure favorable loans.

There were no victims— we know this because the banks that gave Trump the loans testified in his defense.

They said they were not defrauded, that they conducted their own due diligence, and that they profited from the loans. They said they would be happy to do business with him again.

But that didn’t matter. James got her case, she got her headlines, and eventually she got a half-billion dollar penalty handed down by an activist New York judge.

In fact, Trump’s “crime” is so commonplace that the Governor of New York had to assure other real estate developers (who were panicking and fleeing the state) that no one else would be prosecuted for those same charges. Only Trump.

Throughout the whole process, on many occasions, Letitia James declared, “No one is above the law.”

Turns out, this was a case of the pot calling the kettle black; Letitia James has now been accused of far more serious crimes.

According to a criminal referral from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Letitia James allegedly committed mortgage fraud by deliberately falsifying records to obtain favorable loan terms on multiple properties.

James purchased a property in Norfolk, Virginia in August 2023, and on her mortgage applications, she declared the Virginia property as her primary residence. Primary residences qualify for lower interest rates, better loan terms, and other programs not available to investors or non-primary homeowners.

The only problem— she was serving as the Attorney General of New York, a role that legally requires her to maintain primary residence in New York State.

You’d think the top legal official in the State of New York would know that. Duh. You’d also think she wouldn’t be so stupid as to commit the same fraud that she had put Trump on trial for.

But apparently she is that stupid. And her transgressions don’t stop there.

Letitia James also allegedly misrepresented a five-unit Brooklyn property as having only four units; real estate investors know this is an important distinction, since four-unit buildings qualify for better loan terms, while five or more are treated as commercial real estate, which carries stricter loan rules and repayment terms.

In previous mortgage applications dating back to the 1980s and 2000s, James said that her father was actually her husband. Bizarre? Well, given that Ms. James was officially single at the time, pretending that she was married (even to her dad!) qualified her for joint ownership benefits and more favorable lending conditions.

So, in short, we have mail fraud. Bank fraud. Making false statements to a financial institution. People regularly get years in prison for these offenses.

Letitia James reduced her mortgage payments and gained access to financing she otherwise wouldn’t have qualified for, by providing false information on official documents… which is quite similar to what she convicted Donald Trump of doing.

But let’s also not kid ourselves.

It seems unlikely that Letitia James is facing a criminal referral because someone happened across her crimes. She’s being targeted as retribution.

And as satisfying as that may be, I cant help but wonder if this adds fuel to the fire.

The country is already split—ideologically, culturally, economically.

It’s bad enough that we have international tensions that are quickly escalating from tariffs, to trade wars, to economic warfare. And that trajectory could wind up at a shooting war.

Internally, the US has gone from ideological division, to political tribalism, to weaponized prosecutions. Where does this path end?

Do we really want every election to come with the drama of court cases and criminal retribution?

That being said… what Letitia James is accused of is actually serious, and especially egregious given her position as New York Attorney General. She can’t plead ignorance. And she should be held to a higher standard.

But the mortgage fraud isn’t the worst thing Letitia James has done.

The real crime was running for public office on a promise to jail a private citizen.

That should disqualify anyone from ever holding public office. It’s a direct violation of her oath to uphold the Constitution and a blatant admission of bias. She didn’t pledge to serve the law. She pledged to abuse it for political gain.

Then she used public money, state resources, and legal authority—all to carry out a personal vendetta, cheered on by a mob of deranged voters.

So maybe this is what it takes to combat that spiral.

Maybe this eye-for-an-eye approach is what has to happen for the political class to finally realize that weaponizing the justice system is a two-way street.

That you can’t campaign on jailing a private citizen just because you hate his tweets, and then expect there won’t be consequences when your own skeletons fall out of the closet.

I definitely have mixed feelings about it. But one thing I hold out hope for— there are way too many laws, statues, and regulations on the books in the United States. And maybe it will take politicians being convicted of this stuff for lawmakers to finally realize that freedom requires fewer rules, not more.

Simon Black, as James Hickman is more commonly known, is the Founder of Sovereign Man. 

He is an international investor, entrepreneur, and a free man. His daily e-letter, Sovereign Letters, draws on his life, business and travel experiences to help readers gain more freedom, more opportunity, and more prosperity.

Hickman is a lifelong entrepreneur and investor that’s traveled to more than 120 countries on all seven continents. In addition, he’s started, invested in, or acquired businesses all over the world. 

He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the US Army as an intelligence officer during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Hickman founded a South America-based agriculture company that has become one of the leading producers in its industry. A few years ago, he acquired a prominent retail brand in Australia, purchasing the business from the former 1980s era rock star who founded it. 

His other business ventures have included starting a boutique, private investment bank that boasts some of the highest levels of liquidity and solvency in the world, and investing in companies from Colombia to Uzbekistan. He also serves on numerous Boards of Directors, and previously served as Chairman of company listed on a major stock exchange. 

Writing under the pen name Simon Black, he has also written extensively on business incorporation and tax residency establishment in Puerto Rico, and is a proponent of investing in gold and silver as a hedge against inflation.

He is a also a prolific writer on topics ranging from second residency and citizenship, Golden Visas and portfolio diversification, to estate and retirement planning, asset protection, tax optimization and US Opportunity Zones.

 

www.schiffsovereign.com