Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
Letitia James FRAUD EXPOSED! Lawyer & Fraudster Explain What Happens Next...
18 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: What is the background of Letitia James' mortgage fraud case?
Letitia James mortgage fraud through the lens of Matthew Cox. I want to hear your perspective of what happened exactly. So Letitia James was applying for a mortgage for another property. She already had a residence and she marked down on the paperwork to get the loan that this was going to be owner occupied by her for most of the year. And she marked that down and then turns out it wasn't.
It was used by a family member. I paid her a little bit of rental money income, and she declared it to the IRS as a short-term property rental for tax benefits there. So that's what she did wrong.
All right. So what's going on?
So Letitia James. Yeah. Go ahead. So no, she's not going to ultimately get convicted because the prosecutor that's in the chair prosecuting her, she's the only one that signed the indictment. And she has no experience as a prosecutor. Trump met her on a golf course, literally.
She was an insurance defense attorney for like two years and then just hobnobbed with the right people to get in front of Trump like a rabid supporter. And he just installs her to head one of the biggest prosecutorial agencies in the country. I mean, I have more experience. I've tried cases than her.
it's a it's an important job you have access to agents and hundreds of lawyers in the power of the feds and she's the only one that was willing to sign the indictment the person before her was an interim appointee of Trump. Trump thought he would do his bidding. He looked into it for months, said, no, this is not enough. Then he puts in this gal, fires him or he resigns. Both say that I quit.
No, you're fired. Okay. And she puts together this indictment. And what do you think? I mean, she got $18,000 savings in a mortgage, so 0.8% better because... On the mortgage document, she said it was a secondary residence.
Because she's an interim appointee, and this is already the second interim appointee, and he's had problems with this now in California, my home district, Central District, California. They put a guy that was like a year older than me, ousted. He's not allowed to be the acting prosecutor. He's not allowed to sign the indictments himself.
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Chapter 2: What are the implications of the prosecutor's experience in this case?
Who? Eric – not Eric. That's from – Virginia.
Well, I don't need the name. I'm just saying, well, I don't know.
The central district of California, the attorney general for that district. Okay. No go. Right. A judge ruled that in Hawaii because.
A no go on what? What are you talking about?
On acting as the attorney general for that district because Trump put him in and it wasn't confirmed by the Senate.
Okay.
So these are all like interim appoint appointees that really after the clock hits 120 days, they're not you need a confirmation from the Senate.
Okay.
And Trump's just been installing people in all different districts that are his homies, and judges are starting to knock them out. And you're saying she's one of those? Yeah. Okay. So this gal that's prosecuting Letitia James is in that same boat, and Letitia James and James Comey made a similar motion to dismiss that has been successful in multiple districts.
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Chapter 3: How does the indictment process work in this situation?
You signed additional paperwork saying you were going to live in the house. That was your intent to live in the house, and you agreed that you were going to live there for a year. Now, the other thing that I don't understand because I haven't really seen this, and this seems like something that everybody seems to miss is What is the main reason? Not the interest rate.
Everybody says the interest rate. What is the main reason why someone says, I plan on owner occupying this property? Most, not what the, what CNN and all these news stations are saying was, oh, it's a slight better, slightly better interest rate. But the truth is, based on her income, is that if I say I'm going to owner occupy a property, I can get a conventional loan and put down 5%.
So let's say the house is worth $100,000. I can put five grand down. If it's an investment property, I have to put down a minimum of 20% on a conventional loan. So most likely, it wasn't just the slightly better interest rate that ended up over the life of the loan. She would have saved $18,000. It's $18,000 plus it's an extra $15,000 or $20,000 or $30,000, whatever that extra $15,000.
Grant, she gets to keep in her pocket.
She gets to keep in her pocket, and she gets a better interest rate. You know what? So that that to me is like the idea that you didn't lie to obtain this loan. And I'm with her. I get it. Like, I hear you. Fuck those things. I hear you. Let's let's lie. But when I did it, I had I got indicted when I got charged. I got placed on probation. I became a felon for the first time.
It irrevocably spun my life off into turmoil, which was absolutely my fault. I'm not saying that they did something wrong, but I'm saying it bothers me that she is a public official. She's an elected public official. She's a lawyer. And people are saying everybody's kind of shrugging. Oh, well, the left is shrugging, saying it's not a big deal. What's the problem? It doesn't meet the guidelines.
It did. Mine didn't meet the guidelines.
Let's make one more distinction. The facts of your case. She bought a property in North Virginia. I believe it's North for one hundred and nineteen thousand dollars. Is that around the dollar amount that you were messing around with? And you lied, right? Just for your not even for you, for a borrower or a borrower working with.
Yes.
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Chapter 4: What are the responsibilities of criminal defense attorneys?
I mean essentially.
Right.
It's kind of interesting that that's even part of the system.
But they're also – it's like how much time is this guy going to get? Like I think that's – That's a huge responsibility that I think they just kind of shrug off because they figure, ah, this guy's a dirtbag. He's going away for 15 years. And you go, well, wait a minute. If you could get this dropped or argue this or argue that.
I don't think criminal defense attorneys look at their clients like that. You don't get into that world.
You don't think that they think, what does it matter if this guy goes to jail or not? He's a scumbag. I've represented him five times.
Oh, I see what you're saying.
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Chapter 5: How can negotiation skills impact your career?
How would you ace a negotiation? What are Matthew Cox tips to ace a negotiation or an interview? You don't have anything?
I don't know that.
I mean, I think. You can't teach what you're.
I don't do anything. I'm just, you know, just tell you what you want to hear.
You know, that's what, you know. I think... What is it? We talked... Did we talk about this last time? Was it Lusting? Was it... Remember Lusting, the con man who had the... Was it the 10 rules of the con or something?
We've talked about that. I don't know if it was this episode or not, but yeah, we definitely...
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Chapter 6: What challenges arise when turning a true story into a film?
Yeah, where he had all these things. He said, you know, you remain quiet, and then you engage someone in their religion, and then whatever religion they are, you agree with them. Whatever their stance is, you agree. If you don't talk about politics, but if it does come up, agree with everything that the person says.
Don't ever talk about, you know, don't ever discuss sex, but if it comes up, agree with it. and con them into trusting you. And he has a whole list. Always look your best. Always look like you're rich. Always speak well and clearly. Don't ever gossip about other people. There were all these little rules that he had to make himself kind of a veneer of respectability and trust.
And I think there's different types of sales techniques. and I've never been a high pressure salesperson, right? Like I'm not going to, you know, push someone like, you know, you need to hire me, you need this, you need this, you need that. You know, I don't like high pressure. To me, I would think it would just be more educational.
Like, you know, where if you didn't have the answers, then you say, you know, I really want to learn that. I've always been interested in that. That's something like, is that something that you think you could help me with? You know, that sort of thing where you don't, don't push. And then, you know, once you've,
answered all the questions and you get up and leave and, um, you know, call them back. Follow up is huge. The other thing, like nobody's not going to hire you because you called them back the next day. Right. Uh, and I was going to say, I, and I, this is something I always used to say with girls, which I used to always say, leave them laughing. You ever heard me say that?
Oh, he's always there. Okay.
Where I was like, you know, if you talk to some girl you like and you joke with her, Then, you know, you're joking with her. If you get this – you could maybe talk to her for 30 minutes, but at the 10-minute mark, she's giggling and laughing and da-da-da-da. Leave. Go. She's in the middle of laughing. Say, hey, I love talking to you, but I got to get going. I got to go talk to my buddy.
It was really great meeting you. And walk away. Because her last image of you is that guy had me laughing so hard. She's wanting more. She's interested. You don't want to play out that whole – you don't want to talk so long that the – I think also in my opinion, you don't want to talk so long that the interviewer is basically trying to get you out of the – does that make sense?
Like it would be more like – Is that my cue?
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Chapter 7: What personal connection does the speaker have with Ross?
My sister and my brother-in-law are friends with Ross. That's how I got – he became my literary agent. So that's why she was going to the funeral, not for me. She was going because she knew Ross and his wife. So I said, what happened at the funeral?
Chapter 8: What happened during the funeral of Ross?
How did Ross die? She said, well, he had a heart attack. I was like, he's in such good shape. She's like, I know. He was in good shape. But, you know, he just – he said he didn't even know he had a heart problem or anything. That's why I kind of think it must be like, you know, powder or something, right? Like that's the only thing I can think of. And I could be completely wrong about that.
I don't know that. He seems like the kind of guy that was kind of a partier, like, you know. But so I'm like, okay. I said, so what – so I don't really know. I'm like, oh, okay. Now, keep in mind – We don't really know what's happened with the lawsuit. We know there was a mediation.
But you're in the dark. You're in prison.
I'm in the dark. There's no way to find out. Nothing's been filed. So I said, okay, and I don't really know what to say to my sister. I don't know. And my sister says, you know, to her credit, she says, you know, we talked to his wife. And you know, the great thing about, you know, she's like, you know, what she said was kind of like the silver lining was that he'd had a really great last day.
I said, okay. She said he had had some big negotiation with some – she had some big studio in Los Angeles and they had some mediation. And she said – and he just – he ended up negotiating this really great deal. And you know Ross. He was a negotiator. I'm like, right. She's like, he negotiated this really great deal with them and they ended up settling like a lawsuit or something. And –
And then he was so, she said, he was just so thrilled about the whole thing. And he went to bed that night and he just passed away. But he had a great last day. And I said, wow, good for him. And she's like, okay, well, I'll talk to you later. Oh yeah, thank you. Hang on, listen, I ran to Stonehenge where Pete and Amadeo hang out, like a small child doing the windmill, like across the compound.
With the PA system where the COs are going, no running on the compound, no running on the, I ran up, I was like, oh my God, listen. What's even funnier about it is that Amadeo, so Amadeo had even kind of suggested that they already, they probably had a deal. Because anyway, what happened, I don't remember if it was, I think it was maybe the day before or the day after, whatever.
There was a filing where both parties No, it was the day before. A couple days before that, all we knew was this, that Warner Brothers and Deverelli and Ross had filed a motion with the court to close the case without a resolution. Like, we're closing it. That's it. We're both taking our toys and going home. No settlement.
And I remember when we got that, Amadeo had said, which is one of the guys, Pete and I ran, told Amadeo, and he goes, they got a settlement. And we're like, they got a settlement? And he's like, no, it doesn't say. He goes, no, no, it's an out-of-court settlement. And I went, does that happen a lot? He said, well, it does when they want to keep the settlement from one of the parties, for sure.
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