NY AG Letitia James Accused of Aiding and Abetting Fraud

A very interesting report surfaced over St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

It was a piece that documented the financial woes of the building that contains the American Irish Historical Society in New York.

Whereas James had indicted Trump for inflating the value of his assets, James is caught on the complete opposite side of this coin regarding the American Irish Historical Society building.

Complete Reversal

So as not to bore you with all the nitty gritty details, I will do my best to paraphrase all that took place here.

However, if you want to read the full report on this, you can do so in the New York Post.

At 991 Fifth Avenue, a historical mansion serves as the home of the American Irish Historical Society.

As we often see, financial mismanagement led to the building facing foreclosure in 2017.

The board approached James Doyle, a very wealthy Georgia businessman who loved his Irish heritage, to bail out the society by loaning it $3 million.

At the time, Doyle was told the property was estimated to be worth $80 million, which allegedly included air rights.

After several payments were made to Doyle, things started to go awry.

Rumors surfaced of members of the Cahill family using the building as a “private club,” with the younger Cahill being paid a ridiculously high salary as its executive director.

After more dysfunction and controversy, Kevin Cahill (the former president of the society) tried to sell the building in 2021 for $52 million, later dropping the price down to $44 million.

When Cahill died in 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James stepped in to block the sale, claiming a petition had come across her desk on the matter.

At the time, James stated, “It’s an amazing place. We had to save it, had to save it … One day people can come in there and enjoy it again.”

Doyle, meanwhile, had yet to collect on his loan and was threatening to foreclose on the property, but James stepped in to persuade him not to take action.

Last summer, Doyle had still not received his money, so he started foreclosure proceedings, which were then blocked by James.

The key to this is the initial evaluation of the building at $80 million, which was the reason that Doyle provided the loan, later finding out the real value of the building was only about $20 million.

Doyle’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, explained, “In reality, there were no ‘air rights’ and the actual value is closer to $20 million. [The society] made a gross over-valuation” of the townhouse, which induced Doyle to make the $3 million loan.

“Tish James said, ‘Nobody is above the law,’ which should include Tish James, who seems to have actively aided and abetted in the art of the steal.

“This organization fraudulently inflated the value of their building to induce my client into giving them a mortgage which Tish James is now trying to help these fraudsters avoid having to repay.

“The theory of fraud Tish James accused the Trump Organization of engaging in is identical to the fraud she is aiding and abetting here.”

So, it would appear that property valuations can only be doctored when it benefits James but in the case of Trump, her valuations were the ones that appeared to be doctored.

It is for this very reason that I believe Trump will win his case on appeal, or, at the very least, have his penalty significantly reduced.