UPDATE 1-Federal grand jury weighing mortgage fraud charges against New York AG James, Fox News reports

(Adds background in paragraph 2-4) WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) – A federal grand jury is meeting in the Eastern District of Virginia court, weighing charging New York Attorney General Letitia James with mortgage fraud, Fox News reported on Thursday, citing two unidentified sources. James, who has denied wrongdoing, was being investigated for mortgage fraud after Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte alleged that she falsely described her Norfolk, Virginia, home as a primary residence in order to secure a more favorable interest rate on a home mortgage loan. Pulte also said James may have inaccurately described her Brooklyn home. Trump has repeatedly complained about James, who pursued a civil fraud case against him that resulted in a half-billion-dollar penalty. A New York judge in the case found that Trump and his family business fraudulently inflated the value of his assets, although a New York appeals court last month threw that penalty out while preserving the fraud case against him. James is one of at least three public officials facing mortgage fraud investigations, along with U.S. Senator Adam Schiff of California and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, whom Trump has tried to fire. (Reporting by Jasper Ward and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

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