A Maryland grand jury is currently weighing a serious criminal indictment against Senator Adam Schiff over allegations that the California Democrat falsified mortgage documents and claimed two homes as primary residences for over a decade to secure favorable loan terms and tax breaks.
The Department of Justice investigation, led by Trump’s special attorney Ed Martin since early August, centers on allegations that Schiff engaged in “a sustained pattern of possible occupancy misrepresentation” on five Fannie Mae loans between 2003 and 2020 — and it could soon lead to an arrest.
Schiff faces potential charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and making false statements to financial institutions, which carry prison terms of up to 30 years.
Newly released financial documents reveal that Schiff saved an estimated $30,000 to $50,000 over 16 years by claiming his 3,420-square-foot Potomac, Maryland home as his primary residence while simultaneously taking a homeowner’s tax exemption on his 650-square-foot Burbank, California condominium.
The Maryland property, purchased for $870,000 in 2003, is now worth an estimated $1.4 million.
The investigation began after the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice in May.
FHFA Director William Pulte wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi that “Mr. Adam B. Schiff has, in multiple instances, falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, impacting payments from 2003-2019 for a Potomac, Maryland-based property.”
“As regulator of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, we take very seriously allegations of mortgage fraud or other criminal activity,” Pulte wrote. “Such misconduct jeopardizes the safety and soundness of FHFA’s regulated entities and the security and stability of the U.S. mortgage market.”
Schiff and his wife purchased their Maryland home in 2003 with a $610,000 Fannie Mae-backed mortgage at 5.625% over 30 years, certifying it as their primary residence. They reaffirmed this designation in refinancing filings in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013, despite Schiff serving as an elected official representing California during this entire period.
A 2011 affidavit obtained by Fox News shows Schiff’s signature certifying that the Maryland house was his primary residence. Schiff did not designate the Maryland property as a secondary residence until 2020, after 16 years of claiming primary residence status.
During the same period, Schiff claimed his California condominium as his primary residence for tax purposes, receiving a $7,000 reduction in property taxes.
As recently as 2023, during his Senate campaign, a Schiff spokesperson stated that “Adam’s primary residence is Burbank, California, and will remain so when he wins the Senate seat.”
The financial documents also reveal that when Schiff refinanced both properties in 2020, he received identical 3% interest rates on both mortgages, despite finally designating the Maryland home as a secondary residence. The average 30-year mortgage rate in 2020 was 3.10% for primary residences, with secondary residences typically subject to rates up to 0.5% higher.
Schiff’s financial disclosure records show additional irregularities. Despite purchasing the Maryland property in 2003 and the California condo in 2009, he failed to disclose these mortgages on his annual financial disclosures until 2011, an omission he has not explained.
The senator’s assets have grown substantially while he’s been in office, rising from between $578,000 and $1.35 million in 2002 to between $1.18 million and $2.63 million in 2024.
Schiff has dismissed the investigation as politically motivated retaliation. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, he claimed mortgage fraud has become President Donald Trump’s “new weapon” against critics.
“He’s essentially doing the president’s bidding against me, against Letitia James, against this person on the Federal Reserve. Mortgage is their new weapon to go after their critics,” Schiff said. “The common denominator is they will manufacture anything to go after their critics, after members of Congress, to try to silence them, after John Bolton, after people in the Federal Reserve, after generals, after former presidents.”
“Since I led his first impeachment, Trump has repeatedly called for me to be arrested for treason,” Schiff wrote on X when news of the investigation broke in July. “This is just Donald Trump’s latest attempt at political retaliation against his perceived enemies.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized Schiff, calling him “shifty” and “crooked.” In July, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I have always suspected Shifty Adam Schiff was a scam artist.”
Republican National Committee Press Secretary Kiersten Pels said Schiff’s situation reveals hypocrisy.
“Adam Schiff’s baseless smears of corruption against President Trump and Republicans have one simple explanation — he’s projecting,” Pels told The New York Post. “Schiff is a proven liar, a con man, and a fraud.”
The case represents serious criminal charges against the 65-year-old senator, who has repeatedly stated that “no one’s above the law.”
A Fannie Mae financial crimes investigation concluded that Schiff engaged in “a sustained pattern of possible occupancy misrepresentation” on five Fannie Mae loans. FHFA Director Pulte wrote that Schiff “appears to have falsified records in order to receive favorable loan terms, and also appears to have been aware of the financial benefits of a primary residence mortgage when compared to a secondary residence mortgage.”
The case bears similarities to the 2024 conviction of former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, another Democratic leader who was found guilty by a federal jury of making false statements on a mortgage application for a Florida condominium.
Schiff now faces the possibility of becoming the first sitting U.S. senator to be indicted and arrested on mortgage fraud charges.