Visitor put up by Joel Gilbert
New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James has lengthy portrayed herself as a crusader for justice, significantly in terms of holding highly effective figures accountable for monetary misconduct.
However a more in-depth examination of the property of her late father, Robert James, reveals a disturbing and ironic story of authorized manipulation, household dysfunction, and doable fraud – with Letitia James herself on the heart.
In 1983, three years earlier than Robert James’s dying in 1986, Letitia James was simply 24 years outdated and dwelling at her household’s two-bedroom condo in Brooklyn with seven siblings. She had not but entered regulation faculty.
That’s when she and her father, Robert James, utilized for a mortgage mortgage to buy a small dwelling at 114-04 Inwood Road in Queens as “husband and spouse.”
In response to federal regulation, misrepresenting one’s relationship on a mortgage utility is a type of “false illustration,” or mortgage fraud, a critical offense punishable by fines or imprisonment.
Although Robert James died in 1986, it wasn’t till 1999 that Letitia James filed for letters of administration over his property. The Inwood Road home she bought along with her father was listed as the one asset.
Letitia claimed the property’s worth was $105,000 – matching the bond she posted as administrator – and claimed there have been no money owed, no revenue, and no private property.
Maybe most curiously, Letitia dealt with all the course of professional se – that means she didn’t retain authorized counsel.
She wrote and submitted each petition, affirmation, and waiver herself, and even filed a sworn declaration confirming she was not appearing as an lawyer nor accepting compensation from the property.
This degree of self-representation is uncommon in property issues, particularly when the filer is a licensed lawyer and public official.
It additionally meant that Letitia, being each inheritor and administrator, confronted no authorized cross-examination in regards to the property’s inconsistencies.
The Robert James property filings reveal a fractured household dynamic. Letitia James said that two of her siblings – Alberta and Marsha James – have been “lacking”. The 2 lacking sisters have been listed with their whereabouts as “unknown”.
Letitia James, appearing as petitioner and being the daughter of Robert James, filed an affirmation of due diligence detailing her many efforts to find them.
She claimed to have contacted 11 hospitals, together with Harlem, Bellevue, Lincoln, and Kings County.
She contacted the NYC Division of Corrections, New York State correctional providers, and the U.S. Division of Justice. She checked with NYC mortuaries in all 5 boroughs.
Letitia reported that their mom, Nellie James, had not seen Alberta since January 1997 or Marsha since March 1989, and will present no additional info on their whereabouts.
Different relations additionally had no contact or info. What degree of psychological sickness might trigger sisters Alberta and Marsha James to easily disappear?
Within the property submitting, Letitia’s brother, Rickie James, was confirmed to have been identified with schizophrenia round 1975. He was not below treatment or physician’s care on the time of the submitting.
He lived on the property property that Letitia had bought along with her father and refused all voluntary medical remedy.
The courtroom was knowledgeable that Rickie had by no means been legally licensed as developmentally disabled or mentally incapacitated below New York regulation.
The courtroom was notified that regardless of his situation, the household objected to involuntary hospitalization.
The property submitting signifies that of Letitia’s seven siblings, three of them suffered from psychological sickness.
Psychological diseases comparable to schizophrenia and sure temper issues have hereditary parts.
Although not determinative of her personal psychological well being, if three siblings have been affected, this might point out James has a robust familial predisposition to psychological sickness herself.
Letitia James rose to nationwide prominence for prosecuting Donald Trump on fees of monetary fraud, securing a judgment that accused him of inflating his property to acquire favorable mortgage phrases.
In her public statements, she declared, “On a regular basis People can not mislead a financial institution to get a mortgage to purchase a house, and in the event that they did, our authorities would throw the e book at them.”
But in her personal life, Letitia James apparently did simply that – misrepresenting herself as her father’s spouse to assist safe a mortgage mortgage, and later inheriting the property with herself as sole property authorized officer and administrator, whereas below a veil of lacking heirs and psychological sickness.
The property of Robert James could seem small in financial phrases, however the story it tells is immense in significance. Letitia James rose to prominence as a watchdog.
However when positioned below the identical scrutiny she calls for of others, her circle of relatives dealings reveal purple flags: falsified mortgage paperwork, lacking heirs, self-administration of a legally delicate property, and psychological well being problems inside the family.
If the roles have been reversed, and this conduct have been uncovered in another person’s life – particularly a political opponent – Letitia James can be the primary to launch an investigation.
How for much longer can New Yorkers stand for an Legal professional Basic who, all through her life, behaves as if she is above the regulation? The query now could be: When will Letitia James resign?
Joel Gilbert, is a Los Angeles-based movie producer, and president of Freeway 61 Leisure. He’s on Twitter: @JoelSGilbert.
