Letitia James criminally charged in Trump's latest effort to punish rivals

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. Popehat: "I've never seen anything remotely this petty charged as bank fraud."

(If you don't know him, Popehat is Ken White, a respected lawyer)

I’ve never seen anything remotely this petty charged as bank fraud.

/2 Also note that this key paragraph characterizes the agreement rather than quoting it, an odd choice in this context. Seems skeevy.

/3 Also note that the indictment claims she rented the property but not that she entered into an agreement that REQUIRED her to rent the property, which seems to be what is prohibited by the paraphrased language.

NEW: Here's the two-count indictment against NY AG Letitia James. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

— Joshua J. Friedman (@joshuajfriedman.com) 2025-10-09T21:29:49.931Z

/2 Also note that this key paragraph characterizes the agreement rather than quoting it, an odd choice in this context. Seems skeevy.

— Old White Nepo Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T22:21:32.845Z

I'd also add that it just claims she rented "the property to a family of (3)". No indication of when that started, or how long it went on for - which, not as a lawyer, I'd think would be the first thing to know - for a week, a month, a year or what? Has she stayed in it herself at some time? I suspect this lack of detail covers up the reasons the professional lawyers had said there's no prospect of a conviction.