Representative Eric Swalwell of California on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, claiming Mr. Pulte breached federal privacy laws by repeatedly disclosing documents intended to accuse prominent Democrats of mortgage fraud.
Mr. Pulte referred Mr. Swalwell to the Justice Department for investigation after accusing him of mortgage fraud, an allegation Mr. Swalwell has denied.
That accusation followed similar claims Mr. Pulte has made this year against New York’s attorney general, Letitia James; Senator Adam B. Schiff of California; and Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor appointed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
All have denied wrongdoing and accused Mr. Pulte of weaponizing his access to federal mortgage documents in order to assist President Trump’s efforts to prosecute or otherwise take aim at political targets. Mr. Swalwell’s lawsuit called the notion that he had committed fraud “patently false” and a “gross mischaracterization of reality.”
Mr. Pulte did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Washington, argues that Mr. Pulte “abused his position by scouring databases” of mortgage records, selectively looking for records with which to “concoct fanciful allegations of mortgage fraud” in making his Nov. 13 referral.
It asks a federal judge to declare Mr. Pulte’s actions illegal and direct Mr. Pulte and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to withdraw the criminal referral.
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Eric Swalwell Files Suit Against Bill Pulte, Claiming Privacy Law Violations
