Overview
- FHFA Director Bill Pulte, which issued the letters Wednesday, sent two criminal referrals to U.S. Attorneys in South Florida and Northern Illinois alleging misstatements on homeowners insurance applications tied to a Norfolk, Virginia property.
- The Justice Department confirmed the U.S. Attorney offices received the referrals, which are requests to review and possibly investigate rather than criminal charges.
- Pulte’s filings cite court exhibits posted on social media by attorney Mike Davis and point to two claims: that one application said the house would be unoccupied five months a year and another said it would house one adult with no children.
- The companies named are Universal Property Insurance in Florida and Allstate in Illinois, while James’s lawyer Abbe Lowell called the effort an improper revenge campaign and said the allegations are baseless.
- Earlier mortgage-related charges against James were dismissed in November because the acting U.S. attorney who brought them was unlawfully appointed, and two grand juries later declined to re-indict, a history that shapes how outlets frame this round of referrals and who notes the pattern of prior failed prosecutions.