The StoneZONE with Roger Stone - Joel Gilbert ｜ 05-14-25

00:00:00.000 Welcome back. We are back in the Stone Zone. The Federal Housing Finance Agency of the U.S.

00:00:07.060 government has sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice regarding serial mortgage

00:00:14.000 fraud by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Remember her? She's the one who said

00:00:19.900 no one is above the law. Well, evidently that applies to her as well. In a multi-page complaint 0.99

00:00:28.680 to the Department of Justice, the head of the FHFA outlined a series of serious mortgage fraud

00:00:37.760 crimes. These are largely based on the work of two investigators, Joel Gilbert, an investigative

00:00:45.560 journalist and film producer, documentary film producer, who joins us today, and Sam Antar,

00:00:52.120 who writes the lively whitecollarfraud.com site. And they have documented, both of them,

00:01:01.100 all of their findings. Joel Gilbert has produced a number of documentary feature films. He has a new

00:01:06.760 one out regarding my good friend, Roseanne Barr. We're going to ask him about that as well. But

00:01:11.980 Joel Gilbert, welcome into the Stone Zone.

00:01:15.000 Okay, thanks, Roger. Great to be back.

00:01:17.680 So, the Gateway Pundit, where you have published 50 days of your Letitia files, in my view, have helped

00:01:26.100 restore justice in this country. She, of course, denies any wrongdoing. She hired the lawyer, Abby Lowell,

00:01:35.060 who last represented Hunter Biden, none too successfully, to deny everything. But the documents themselves

00:01:43.060 don't lie. You have done Yeoman's job of exposing a number of the major scandals here. I believe it

00:01:52.020 was you, Joel, who first discovered that James had received, back in 2011, a federally subsidized

00:01:59.540 HAMP mortgage modification that required the property that you were getting a mortgage for to be

00:02:06.260 no more than four residential units. Now, the official certificate of occupancy showed that the

00:02:13.760 property in question had five, and then Sam Antar's investigation revealed critical last-minute

00:02:20.240 handwritten notations in the mortgage document, including the words, quote, four FAM in one corner,

00:02:26.780 and a contradictory note saying, quote, not more than six residential units, suggesting a deliberate

00:02:33.480 manipulation to maintain technical eligibility while creating plausible deniability about the

00:02:39.940 property's true status. If I did this, they would charge me. Tell me what you have discovered in your

00:02:47.040 latest piece, because there's a new Letitia James scandal brewing here. 1.00

00:02:52.440 Correct. In addition to the HAMP loan investigation, the one regarding the Norfolk property in Virginia,

00:02:58.880 where she claimed to the lender that she would be a primary residence in order to get lower mortgage 0.97

00:03:05.460 rates, I've taken a look at her estate filing in 1999. Her father died in 1986, Robert James,

00:03:15.140 and it was three years after Letitia purchased a home with him, pretending to be his wife. They purchased

00:03:22.080 a home in Queens, a small townhouse, and they applied for the mortgage as husband and wife. Now,

00:03:27.700 I've written previously about how that was likely done because Letitia, 24 years old at the time, 0.94

00:03:33.020 probably could not qualify for a loan and didn't have the income to do that. So that was in itself

00:03:39.320 a form of mortgage fraud. You cannot misrepresent a relationship in order to get a mortgage.

00:03:44.800 Now, her father dies in 1986. For some strange reason, I talk about this in my article today,

00:03:50.500 it's very, very rare that a estate proceeding doesn't happen within a year or two of someone's

00:03:58.720 death. But Letitia James waited 13 years, which is unheard of. I cite the fact that she didn't file

00:04:04.700 any tax filings about her father's estate and that she asked the court to give her her father's interest

00:04:12.740 in the townhome because she said that she could not inherit it unless the court gave her the tenancy

00:04:22.660 and common rights. Now, really, she did have a joint tenancy because she applied for the mortgage as

00:04:29.140 her father's wife. So she gets this grant from the probate court to give her, 13 years later,

00:04:37.400 her father's interest in the townhome. Lo and behold, one year later in 2000, she sells the property

00:04:44.300 as husband and wife that Robert James is her husband, even though he's deceased and even

00:04:50.200 though she inherited it. So I looked at these discrepancies in this estate and I said, there's

00:04:55.740 all kind of problems here. There's the delay, there's selling it as a husband and wife when you

00:05:01.760 inherited it, the lack of any tax filings. And I'm saying that this 13-year difference and Letitia

00:05:10.780 James' mishandling of her father's estate is kind of a bridge that shows how she was treating the law

00:05:18.220 and treating her responsibilities as an attorney. And I believe she should be looked at. And the

00:05:24.420 background of this, you might remember in 2016, Hillary Clinton introduced the term fake news into the

00:05:30.580 2016 campaign. And Donald Trump quickly took over that line and used it against the left.

00:05:38.060 I think the breathtaking hypocrisy is what's driving this interest because when Letitia James

00:05:44.180 introduced the idea, no one is above the law, she's the one that apparently has behaved as though

00:05:49.580 she's been above the law in all of her real estate transactions for 40 years. As I recall, the actual 1.00

00:05:56.120 title on that property correctly records it as belonging to father and daughter while the mortgage

00:06:02.100 records the mortgage having been given to husband and wife. Perfect example of fraud. If all three

00:06:11.620 mortgages are considered, James is claiming $509,600 in mortgage debt on one Virginia property assessed at

00:06:20.440 just $187,300, a loan to value ratio of 272%, far beyond any rational underwriting standard and likely

00:06:33.080 impossible to obtain through legitimate lending channels. Now, Letitia claims two Fridays ago, I think it was,

00:06:42.700 is that when you and Sam Antar at whitecollarfraud.com visited her apartment building to confirm the number of units there and that she had, in fact, committed fraud. She said that you had been sent by Donald Trump. That's laughable. Sam Antar's not a Trump supporter. He's a Democrat. And his investigations are not politically based.

00:07:08.840 And you weren't sent by Donald Trump. But you were there to videotape documentation of what you were saying. She claimed that she was at church when this happened. Do you think she was really at church?

00:07:23.060 Well, no, because Sam and I were there on a Friday afternoon. So we saw that Letitia went to the, you know, Al Sharpton's National Action Network, which is very typical, I've noticed, going way back to Bill Clinton, when he was busted for the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

00:07:38.860 He showed up at these black churches trying to cloak himself in this air of righteousness of people who are struggling for civil rights somehow that are being persecuted. So Letitia, I'm seeing, is following that same formula. She went to go to speak to the black community with these false claims that she was in church on a Friday afternoon and that somehow she's being persecuted.

00:07:59.820 So she's getting more and more desperate. She hired this Democrat fixer attorney, Abby Lowell, who put out a letter to Pam Bondi, which was just a PR stunt. It had no legal substance whatsoever. He completely misstated the documents. He misunderstood the documents.

00:08:16.540 And I think she's in big trouble. And the reason I went to her house is because of what she said. No one is above the law. And that's what Sam and I checked it out. And we confirmed our research that all of her real estate filings were fraudulent.

00:08:30.280 Public record because of the required disclosures she must make as an elected official under New York state law. To me, the August 2023 act of signing a specific power of attorney in connection with the mortgage on a property in Norfolk, Virginia, claiming that it would be her, quote, principal residence.

00:08:54.460 That was a legally binding statement that I think automatically vacated her position as New York attorney general under public officers law 30. This declaration came just 45 days before she launched her landmark civil fraud case against Donald Trump.

00:09:12.680 It also potentially constitutes mortgage fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1014, which criminalizes false statements made to obtain a loan.

00:09:24.220 This is a material problem for a couple of reasons. If she did move to Virginia, which, of course, she didn't.

00:09:31.760 She's therefore ineligible to be attorney general. And if she signed it and didn't move, she's clearly guilty of mortgage fraud. 0.95

00:09:41.940 Her excuse, or I should say her answer, both herself and by her lawyer, Abby Lowell, was that she had filed an additional application in which she was not required to live in the property to obtain the mortgage.

00:09:58.460 There's no record of that. The New York Times wrote it as a fact without producing any such document.

00:10:04.860 And these power of attorneys are signed at the conclusion of the mortgage transaction, not at the beginning.

00:10:15.260 It looks to me that she's trying to lie her way out of this.

00:10:19.060 Yeah, I can comment on that. What her attorney, Abby Lowell, said, this is Hunter Biden's attorney and Bob Menendez, gold bar Bob's attorney who's going to jail.

00:10:27.680 Well, what he did in his response that he made public to Pam Bondy, he said there's a couple of informal emails that Letitia sent where she said it would not be her primary residence.

00:10:39.240 But that in no way negates the fact that in the mortgage document that the lender relied on to come up with their rates, that that's the document they relied on to approve her mortgage.

00:10:53.080 And he ignores that.

00:10:55.660 The same thing with her apartment building in Brooklyn that I visited with Sam Antar.

00:11:00.900 It's a four story building with five units legally, according to the certificate of occupancy.

00:11:06.820 Sam and I measured the lower floor because she falsely claimed that it was only three stories.

00:11:11.860 The lower floor, if it's 50 percent above ground, that's a floor.

00:11:16.820 It's 87 inches above ground and only 16 inches below ground.

00:11:20.680 So it's a four story house with five apartment units.

00:11:23.580 Now, in his letter, he said, oh, Letitia has informally been using this building as a four unit building for some years.

00:11:33.580 It doesn't matter how you claim that you informally use it.

00:11:37.260 It matters what the certificate of occupancy says.

00:11:40.400 And that's the legal definition of that building.

00:11:42.780 So in both cases, her attorney is simply saying there are informal things that were done that mitigate what she did illegally.

00:11:50.420 And I don't think it's going to fly.

00:11:51.700 This shrimp and coconut sauce is divine.

00:11:54.580 What's your secret?

00:11:55.600 Goya coconut milk.

00:11:56.680 How does it taste so good?

00:11:58.060 It's all in that real coconut flavor and that rich, creamy texture.

00:12:02.140 What about thickeners and added sugars?

00:12:04.380 None.

00:12:05.020 Just smooth, coconutty goodness.

00:12:07.440 What can I make with it?

00:12:08.560 From curries to sweet treats like coconut flan, the possibilities are endless.

00:12:13.900 Goya coconut milk.

00:12:15.140 Take your cooking to the next level.

00:12:16.740 No question about it.

00:12:17.760 Find it in the Goya section of your local grocery store.

00:12:20.020 If it's Goya, it has to be good.

00:12:22.180 I just want to state for the record, everyone is, of course, innocent until proven guilty.

00:12:26.980 There's a standing invitation to the attorney general to appear here in the stove zone to defend herself. 1.00

00:12:32.740 We would welcome that.

00:12:34.480 Somehow, I don't think she'll take us up on it.

00:12:36.460 But the invitation is open.

00:12:39.000 Now, there are reports that federal prosecutors have impaneled a grand jury in Virginia to look at the charges in that state.

00:12:48.120 There's another Virginia property at question here.

00:12:51.660 Is there not?

00:12:52.140 Yeah, I looked at this foreclosure.

00:12:55.660 Apparently, she has some cousins.

00:12:57.720 The last name is Finney in Martinsville, Virginia, that had their property foreclosed on by Wells Fargo.

00:13:04.260 So they recruited Letitia, apparently, who had some money to buy back their foreclosed home from Wells Fargo Bank. 1.00

00:13:12.360 So sure enough, in 2008, Letitia buys this foreclosure from the bank.

00:13:19.120 And three weeks later is when the deed is then issued.

00:13:23.000 And when the deed was issued, Letitia's name was not on the deed.

00:13:26.560 And that's not legal.

00:13:27.500 If she was a purchaser of the property, she should have showed up as someone on the deed, and then she would have had to sell the property to her cousins in some manner. 0.96

00:13:36.560 There's no record of her ever been selling the property.

00:13:39.060 There's no record of her reporting this real estate acquisition or this real estate holding on her campaign finance forms.

00:13:47.320 She may still own that property. 0.97

00:13:49.000 So that's a big hole in reporting, and why she bought this property for her cousins but never appeared on the deed is definitely a type of mortgage infraction that has to also be looked at.

00:14:02.800 For anyone who thinks that we are nitpicking here, let me remind you, Letitia James indicted President Donald Trump in a civil action, 0.88

00:14:10.840 claiming that he inflated the value of his assets in order to obtain commercial real estate loans, loans that were paid back in full and on time,

00:14:22.520 in which the lenders made $40 million in interest.

00:14:28.220 In every one of those cases, the lenders testified that they had conducted their own due diligence as to the value of Trump's assets,

00:14:37.620 that no bank, no lender, would take the borrower's word for the value of their assets.

00:14:45.500 They would be required, actually, to do their own due diligence to come up with a defensible number on which they felt comfortable making the loan.

00:14:55.060 Letitia James says this is retribution, it's revenge, because she won a, I think it's a $580 million judgment.

00:15:02.480 Let me give you a hint.

00:15:03.680 I believe that that judgment will be overturned.

00:15:06.080 The appeals court has already hinted about it, and we will see this for what it is.

00:15:10.400 Lawfare, politically motivated lawfare, designed to hurt Donald Trump and impoverish him going into the presidential election.

00:15:20.680 Joel Gilbert is joining us today in the Stone Zone.

00:15:23.620 He is the investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Los Angeles,

00:15:28.560 who's published a multi-part series for the Gateway Pundit on Letitia James.

00:15:33.740 When we come back, we're going to talk a little bit more about this,

00:15:37.680 but I also want to talk to him about his upcoming documentary film regarding a very good friend of mine, Roseanne Barr.

00:15:44.420 Whatever you do, please don't touch that dial.

00:15:47.360 You're in the Stone Zone, and we'll be back with more politics, more news, more of Joel Gilbert on the other side.

00:15:54.760 We are back in the Stone Zone, and we're talking to Joel Gilbert, documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist,

00:16:02.520 about his latest story at Gateway Pundit regarding New York Attorney General Letitia James.

00:16:09.100 Now we get news that New York taxpayers may not be aware that, well, they're going to be on the hook for Letitia James' legal bills. 0.99

00:16:18.280 Kathy Ockel and Albany Democrats have passed a law that requires us, the taxpayers, to foot the bill

00:16:26.620 for what I think are personal actions on her part.

00:16:29.780 She is not charged for misconduct as New York Attorney General, although there are some issues regarding her personal expenses

00:16:38.020 and travel that could lead to such charges.

00:16:42.160 But in this case, all of the transactions that we're talking about here are personal financial transactions.

00:16:49.820 Joel, should the taxpayers foot the bill for this?

00:16:52.400 This has caused a lot of outrage because Letitia James apparently got the governor to put in the new budget 1.00

00:17:00.300 that if anything has to do with Trump, that the state would cover her legal expenses.

00:17:05.660 Now, people are outraged because the issues we brought up have nothing to do with

00:17:09.480 and were prior to even becoming Attorney General for the most part, except for one issue.

00:17:14.460 So it's absurd.

00:17:15.720 I think people are outraged, and Letitia James is being held up to the same standard that she established 0.95

00:17:23.800 for Donald Trump, which is no one is above the law, and the state of New York should not have to pay her legal fees.

00:17:30.160 Yeah, it was amazing.

00:17:31.620 Sam Antar uncovered the fact that between 2020 and 2021, the Attorney General's office spent $41,000

00:17:38.300 in taxpayer funds on private jet travel through a company called Venture Jets,

00:17:43.920 a vendor used by no other state agency.

00:17:47.460 Several flights coincide with James' campaign activities, including a trip to Martha's Vineyard

00:17:53.240 and a politically significant conference in Puerto Rico, where she was described as being fully in campaign mode.

00:18:01.600 But then, according to Antar, there's nothing in state files to back up these expenditures.

00:18:08.960 In other words, there's no trip itinerary.

00:18:12.300 There's no explanation of who flew and why.

00:18:16.200 These kind of luxury campaign spending with creative accounting, I think, violates state law

00:18:22.660 and could yet be a problem for the Attorney General.

00:18:27.200 Joe, when this is all over, is it your intention to make a documentary on Letitia James?

00:18:33.440 Well, I really could because it's a pattern of 40 years.

00:18:36.900 It's not like, oh, well, there's some expenses we're worried about on this airplane.

00:18:40.560 It's a pattern.

00:18:41.760 Every real estate transaction she does, every loan she takes, every interaction with relatives,

00:18:46.800 the estate, with her niece, her cousins in Virginia, whatever she does, she appears to be crooked. 0.82

00:18:53.920 So this would make a great film, but we don't know the ending yet.

00:18:57.600 So I think I'm going to wait for the ending, and I'm thinking she'll probably be indicted

00:19:01.300 based on what the evidence I've uncovered.

00:19:04.000 Joel, you have a very lively feed on X, formerly known as Twitter.

00:19:07.580 Where can people find you?

00:19:09.180 Joel S. for Sam.

00:19:11.260 Joel S. Gilbert.

00:19:12.680 At Joel S. Gilbert.

00:19:13.800 I put up all my latest articles on Gateway Pundit there almost every day.

00:19:18.320 I urge folks to check it out.

00:19:20.160 Okay, we have about just one minute left.

00:19:21.780 But your upcoming documentary on one of my all-time favorites, Roseanne Barr, Is America.

00:19:27.520 Tell us quickly about it.

00:19:29.280 Yeah, RoseanneIsAmerica.com.

00:19:32.180 RoseanneIsAmerica.com.

00:19:33.160 Watch the trailer.

00:19:33.940 It's coming out on 72 million homes, video on demand, another several million on live stream.

00:19:39.860 We're screening it at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on June 9.

00:19:43.880 Roseanne's going to be there.

00:19:45.120 Everyone's invited if you're in D.C.

00:19:47.440 Going to do a big Q&A.

00:19:48.720 And Roseanne is a very important figure in America.

00:19:51.980 This really tells her whole life story, including how she got essentially canceled for being a Trump supporter when they tried to say that she made a tweet that was racist, even though it wasn't, because they were out to get Trump.

00:20:04.460 So she was kind of the first victim of cancel culture, where they cancel you for being a Trump supporter.

00:20:09.720 And this film tells the whole real story about her life, how she became a Trump supporter, and what really happened and why they tried to get her out of Hollywood.

00:20:18.360 All right.

00:20:19.260 We have to lend it there.

00:20:20.640 Let me thank my guest, Joel Gilbert, documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist.

00:20:25.940 And I look forward to your Roseanne film.

00:20:29.000 Roseanne is America, because, well, I love Roseanne Barr.

00:20:32.900 Thank you for joining us today in the Stone Zone.

00:20:35.320 And until we meet again, God bless you and Godspeed.

The StoneZONE with Roger Stone - May 15, 2025

Joel Gilbert ｜ 05-14-25

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript