Three words in Letitia James' mortgage contract doom the fraud case against her

[FBaggins]

20. I assume that's not an intentional strawman

I can't see anywhere that I've implied that it had to be "in perpetuity". I haven't seen anyone claim that the home was unoccupied for the first year and then she changed her mind. The accusations are that the home was immediately occupied (but not by her). The Schedule E claiming rental income and deducting expenses was for the tax year in which she purchased the home.

I would agree that if the home were empty for a year (apart from actual vacation usage by James) she would have a much clearer defense... but nothing hints that this is the case.

If there's an ambiguity, it's going to be construed against the drafter.

This isn't some fresh contract unique to a specific lender. It's Form 3890 that is a standard instrument for Fannie/Freddie underwritten second home mortgages. It's standard language that has been used on tens of thousands of mortgages every year. If there was any ambiguity, it would have been edited out by now.