New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Virginia on prison charges of financial institution fraud and false statements to a monetary establishment after a prosecutor hand-picked by President Donald Trump introduced proof to that panel.
James is a long-time antagonist of Trump, who lately publicly called for prison charges to be filed in opposition to her and former FBI Director James Comey.
The legal professional common beforehand sued Trump in a civil case in New York that led to him and his firm being held liable for enterprise fraud.
The indictment issued Thursday accuses James of creating false statements in reference to a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae that she obtained to purchase a three-bedroom residence in Norfolk, Virginia, in August 2020.
James, whose major residence on the time was in Brooklyn, New York, is accused of mendacity on a rider to that mortgage, which required her to make use of the Norfolk residence as a secondary residence and never hire the property, in response to the indictment.
“No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” mentioned Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, in an announcement after she obtained the indictment of James in Alexandria federal court docket.
“The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served,” Halligan mentioned.
James, in an announcement, mentioned, “This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General.”
She called the charges “baseless,” saying that Trump’s “own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost.
“The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of each events,” James said.
“His resolution to fireplace a United States Attorney who refused to deliver charges in opposition to me – and change them with somebody who’s blindly loyal to not the legislation, however to the president – is antithetical to the bedrock ideas of our nation. This is the time for leaders on each side of the aisle to talk out in opposition to this blatant perversion of our system of justice.”
James was ordered to make her first appearance in the criminal case on Oct. 24 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia. The case has been assigned to Judge Jamar Walker, who was appointed to the bench in 2023 by then-President Joe Biden.
If convicted, James faces a maximum possible sentence of 30 years in prison, and up to a $1 million fine on each count. Any actual sentence would likely be much less severe given federal sentencing guidelines.
The indictment alleges that total amount of purported “ill-gotten positive aspects” by James were only about $19,000 over the life of the loan, which was originated in mid-2020.
Halligan on Sept. 25 obtained a criminal indictment against Comey, on charges related to his allegedly lying to Congress in 2020.
Halligan also had personally presented the evidence in Comey’s case, reportedly after other prosecutors balked at the idea. It is highly unusual for a U.S. Attorney to present a case to a grand jury.
Comey pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in Alexandria on Wednesday and was scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 5.
Halligan’s predecessor as acting U.S. Attorney, Erik Siebert, resigned on Sept. 19, shortly after Trump said he wanted him gone.
Siebert told Justice Department officials before he quit that “investigators discovered inadequate proof to deliver charges in opposition to Ms. James and had additionally raised issues a few potential case in opposition to Mr. Comey,” The New York Times reported on the day he resigned.
Trump promptly tapped Halligan to replace Siebert.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul blasted the indictment of her fellow Democrat James.
“New Yorkers know @NewYorkStateAG James for her integrity, her independence, and her relentless battle for justice,” Hochul wrote in a post on X.
“What we’re seeing in the present day is nothing lower than the weaponization of the Justice Department to punish those that maintain the highly effective accountable,” the governor wrote.
James’ indictment comes three days after MSNBC reported that a top prosecutor in Halligan’s office, Elizabeth Yusi, was resisting pressure to ask a grand jury to charge James.
“Yusi … has confided to co-workers that she sees no possible trigger to consider James engaged in mortgage fraud, the 2 sources advised MSNBC,” that report on Monday said.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte in April made a criminal referral against James with the U.S. Justice Department, saying she had in multiple instances falsified bank documents and property records in connection with the Norfolk home and a New York property.
In a letter in April to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Lowell called Pulte’s allegations “baseless.”
Pulte has made similar accusations about purported mortgage fraud against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
Trump cited those claims in August when he tried to fire Cook, who, like James, is the first Black woman to hold her position. A federal district court judge blocked Trump from removing Cook while her lawsuit challenging her termination was pending.
The Supreme Court on Oct. 1 said Cook could remain in her post pending the outcome of oral arguments over the dispute, which are set for January.
In early September, James asked New York state’s highest court to overturn an appeals court’s decision tossing out the $500 million penalty imposed on Trump and his company in the business fraud case.
“I stand strongly behind my workplace’s litigation in opposition to the Trump Organization,” James said in her statement on Thursday.
“We carried out a two-year investigation primarily based on the information and proof – not politics,” she said. “Judges have upheld the trial court docket’s discovering that Donald Trump, his firm, and his two sons are liable for fraud.”
“I’m a proud girl of religion, and I do know that religion and worry can’t share the identical area,” James said. “And so in the present day I’m not fearful, I’m fearless, and as my religion teaches me, no weapon shaped in opposition to me shall prosper. We will battle these baseless charges aggressively, and my workplace will proceed to fiercely defend New Yorkers and their rights. And I’ll proceed to do my job.”
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