Rep. Eric Swalwell’s $1.2 million DC home target of DOJ mortgage fraud criminal referral

WASHINGTON — Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) was hit with a federal criminal referral for alleged mortgage and tax fraud related to his purchase of a $1.2 million home in Washington, DC, that he claimed as a primary residence, The Post has confirmed.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte in a Wednesday letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi requested an investigation of Swalwell based on allegedly false and misleading statements he made about the purchase, NBC News first reported.

The California Democrat was able to secure millions of dollars’ worth of loans and refinancing based on the primary residence declaration in DC, a source familiar with the referral said.

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The designation could constitute mortgage fraud, insurance fraud and state and local tax fraud, among other charges, the source noted.

In addition to the Department of Justice criminal referral, FHFA’s inspector general is probing the alleged mortgage fraud.

“As the most vocal critic of Donald Trump over the last decade and as the only person who still has a surviving lawsuit against him, the only thing I am surprised about is that it took him this long to come after me,” Swalwell responded in a statement.

“Like James Comey and John Bolton, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook, Letitia James and the dozens more to come – I refuse to live in fear in what was once the freest country in the world,” added the California congressman, who is now the fourth Democratic official to be targeted for mortgage fraud by the Trump administration.

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“Of course, I will not end my lawsuit against him. And I will not stop speaking out against the president and speaking up for Californians,” Swalwell said.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook have all faced criminal referrals from Pulte based on allegedly false statements they made about second homes or rental properties being their primary residence.

The referrals indicated the misrepresentations may have granted each more favorable loan terms.

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On Oct. 9, a federal grand jury handed up a criminal indictment of James for purported falsehoods related to a $109,600 loan she obtained for a Norfolk, Va., residence, netting her an extra nearly $19,000.

A separate grand jury in Maryland as of August was weighing charges against Schiff. Cook was fired from the Fed amid a DOJ criminal investigation — but has since appealed her case to the US Supreme Court.

Swalwell purchased the Victorian bungalow, nestled in the District’s historic Eckington neighborhood and just a mile north of the US Capitol, in 2020 for $1.2 million, records show. 

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The home — which boasts six bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms and more than 3,000 square feet of space — had most of its original 1920s interior ripped out and replaced with a more modern look that includes a stainless steel fireplace and a white marble chimney breast in its parlor, Variety reported. 

While characterizing the fraudulent loan allegations against him as just more hot air from the president, Swalwell isn’t a stranger to investigations of his conduct.

In January 2023, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) kicked Swalwell off the House Intelligence Committee, following reports three years prior that a suspected Chinese spy had infiltrated the congressman’s campaign — and got close to him.

Fang Fang, also known as Christine Fang, was a purported honeytrap who entered the US from China as a college student in 2011 — but allegedly spent the next four years wooing state and federal lawmakers to potentially obtain sensitive government intelligence.

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At least two mayors of midwestern US cities had a romantic or sexual relationship with her, a US intelligence official and former elected official told Axios in 2020.

The FBI gave Swalwell a defensive briefing about how Fang, who worked as a bundler on his 2014 campaign, was seducing politicians, causing him to cut off all contact with her in 2015.

“Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector. Why would we ever give him a security clearance in the secrets to America? So, I will not allow him to be on Intel,” McCarthy told Fox News in November 2022.

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The Democratic rep’s relationship with her later became the focus of a two-year probe by the House Ethics Committee.

The ethics panel closed the inquiry in May 2023 with no finding of fault, but in a letter to the congressman, cautioned that “Members should be conscious of the possibility that foreign governments may attempt to secure improper influence through gifts and other interactions.” 

Swalwell has been a prominent critic of President Trump throughout his time in Congress, leading the charge for the 45th commander-in-chief’s impeachment in 2019.

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Two years later, he compared 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden with Trump in the context of the president’s second impeachment attempt involving the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

“I’m comparing the words of a individual who would incite and radicalize somebody, as Osama bin Laden did, to what President Trump did,” he told “PBS NewsHour.”

Swalwell made a failed run for the presidency but dropped out a year before the 2020 Democratic primary after competing in just one debate with other candidates.

Reps for the DOJ declined to comment.