New York Attorney General Letitia James under investigation for alleged real estate fraud What’s at stake for Trump’s legal rival?

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, marking the first known federal probe into a law enforcement official who has brought major legal actions against President Donald Trump.

A grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has issued subpoenas related to a mortgage application in which James claimed she intended to use a home in Norfolk as her primary residence. The property was purchased by her niece, Shamice Thompson-Hairston, under a power of attorney signed by James, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The investigation stems from a criminal referral sent in April by William J. Pulte, Trump’s appointee to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche. Pulte accused James of falsifying bank and property records to obtain government-backed loans and benefits, citing media reports that she misrepresented the Norfolk home as her principal residence and misstated the number of units in a Brooklyn brownstone she owns.

James’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, dismissed the allegations as politically motivated retaliation from the Trump administration. He acknowledged a mistake in the paperwork but argued that James clearly stated elsewhere in the loan documents that the Norfolk house would be her niece’s residence. “This was a clerical error, not fraud,” Lowell said, noting that other documents made her intent explicit.

Trump allies have seized on the case. Conservative activist Laura Loomer accused James of hypocrisy, while others likened her actions to those of former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who was convicted last year of mortgage fraud. The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment on the case.

Lowell also rejected claims that James misled authorities about her Brooklyn property, stating that a 24-year-old certificate of occupancy listing five units is outdated and contradicted by more current and accurate records showing four units. He added that an old clerical error listing James as her father’s spouse on a Queens deed was corrected long ago.

James has been a prominent legal adversary of Trump, suing his administration multiple times during his first term and winning a $450 million fraud judgment last year against the Trump Organization. The ruling found Trump and top executives, including his sons, deliberately inflated property values to secure favorable financial terms.

Trump, who has made James a frequent target of criticism, intensified his attacks since returning to the presidency in January. In March, he revoked her security clearance, and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, named her in a new “weaponization working group” tasked with investigating allegedly politicized prosecutions by Democratic officials.

Lowell’s letter accused the administration of blatant double standards. “The stunning hypocrisy of President Trump’s complaint that the Justice Department had been ‘politicized’ is laid bare,” he wrote, “as he and others now demand exactly that against Attorney General James.”

By Tamilla Hasanova