Swalwell alleges Pulte obtained and used the lawmaker’s personal mortgage records in violation of US privacy laws and constitutional protections for political expression. Pulte sent a criminal referral to the US Justice Department earlier this month claiming Swalwell committed mortgage fraud, which the congressman’s lawyers said was false and “a gross mischaracterization of reality,” according to the court filing.
According to the lawsuit, Pulte accused Swalwell of claiming his home in the District of Columbia as his primary residence on a mortgage agreement to secure more favorable terms. The lawmaker said his sworn affidavit on the agreement made clear that the home would be his wife’s primary residence — not his — and that he remained a permanent resident of California.
A spokesperson for the housing agency and Swalwell’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday afternoon.
The lawmaker also said that the widespread publication of information about the address of his family’s home has exposed him and his young children to heightened security risks and caused “significant anguish and distress.”
“Pulte’s brazen practice of obtaining confidential mortgage records from Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac and then using them as a basis for referring individual homeowners to DOJ for prosecution is unprecedented and unlawful,” his lawyers wrote in the complaint.
Swalwell wants a court to order Pulte to withdraw the criminal referral to the Justice Department. He’s also seeking an unspecified amount of money as compensation for the alleged privacy violations.
