08-05-25, 22:27
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FED Prosecutors Open Criminal Investigation Into NY Attn Gen-Trumps Referral
Trumps REVENGE; FED Prosecutors Open Criminal Investigation Into New York Attorney General
Exclusive: Prosecutors impanel federal grand jury in Virginia to hear evidence after Trump officials referral against Letitia James
The Guardian 9 MAY 2025
Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into New Yorks attorney general, Letitia James
Trump administration alleged last month in a referral that she may have falsified paperwork for properties she owns in Virginia and New York, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigation marks a swift and notable escalation against James, a major political enemy of Donald Trump, who was ordered to pay more than $450MIL in penalties as a result of a lawsuit brought by James office that accused him of inflating his net worth to secure financial benefits.
In what appears to be the early stages of the FBI criminal investigation, prosecutors have impaneled a federal grand jury to hear evidence in the eastern district of Virginia after the head of the federal housing agency, William Pulte, last month made the referral to the justice department, the people said.
The investigation appears to be multipronged, the people said, with involvement from the FBI in New York in addition to Virginia. The investigation appears to have gathered pace only in recent weeks with news of the grand jury filtering through Trumps orbit in the last few days of April.
The criminal referral rehashed claims touted online by Trump allies that James may have committed fraud by attesting in paperwork in 2023 that she would make a house in Norfolk, Virginia, which she was helping a relative to buy, as her principal residence while she was New Yorks attorney general.
Whether the allegations are substantial enough to result in criminal charges remains unclear. But its existence, which has not been previously reported, regardless raises the legal stakes for James in what appears to be the first criminal inquiry into one of Trumps foremost political adversaries.
James has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated retribution. In a letter to the justice department last month, James lawyer argued the residency claim was a mistake and that she had told the mortgage broker the house would not be her main residence.
Director Pulte cherry picked an August 17, 2023 power of attorney that mistakenly stated the property to be Ms James principal residence, James lawyer, Abbe Lowell, wrote. The broker understood this, and that Ms James was not a Virginia resident.
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