New York Attorney General Letitia James, a longtime foe of President Donald Trump, was indicted on criminal charges including bank fraud on Thursday (October 9, 2025), the Justice Department said, as the administration seeks to use government power against those who have pursued investigations into him or publicly resisted his agenda. Lindsey Halligan, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Ms. James had been indicted on one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a lending institution. The Justice Department has been probing mortgage fraud allegations against her.
“The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” Ms. Halligan said.
Each count is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, but should Ms. James be convicted, any sentence would be determined by a judge.
Neither Ms. James’ lawyers nor representatives of her office immediately responded to requests for comment. Mr. Trump, a Republican who campaigned for reelection in part on a vow of retribution after facing a slew of legal woes since his first term in the White House ended in 2021, has repeatedly assailed James on social media and at political rallies as a partisan enemy.
New York state Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said in a post on X, “What we’re seeing today is nothing less than the weaponization of the Justice Department to punish those who hold the powerful accountable.”
Indictment follows charges against Comey
The indictment of Ms. James comes after a grand jury in Virginia on September 25 indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation. Mr. Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday (October 8, 2025). Mr. Trump has regularly assailed Mr. Comey’s handling of the FBI investigation that detailed contacts between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Both indictments come after Mr. Trump, in a September 20 social media post addressed to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, said Ms. James, Mr. Comey, and U.S. Senator Adam Schiff were “guilty as hell.”
The indictments against Ms. James and Mr. Comey were both brought by Ms. Halligan, who was installed last month as the top federal prosecutor in Alexandria, Virginia. Her predecessor, Erik Siebert, resigned on September 19, hours after Mr. Trump told reporters, “I want him out.” Mr. Siebert believed the evidence against Mr. Comey and Ms. James was weak, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters at the time.
As with the Mr. Comey case, Ms. Halligan presented the evidence against Ms. James to the grand jury by herself, without support from career prosecutors in the office, a person familiar with the matter said. Prosecutors in the office have previously expressed concerns about the strength of the evidence against her, Reuters previously reported.
Mr. Comey’s lawyers are expected to argue Ms. Halligan was unlawfully appointed as U.S. attorney. If that motion is successful, it could complicate the cases against Mr. Comey and Ms. James down the road. Ms. James is one of several Democratic State Attorneys General who have sued to block Trump administration actions. She is best known for bringing a civil fraud case against mR. Trump and his family real estate company in 2022. The case resulted in a $454.2 million penalty against Mr. Trump after a judge found he fraudulently overstated his net worth to dupe lenders. A New York state appeals court in August threw out the penalty, which had grown to more than a half-billion dollars with interest, but upheld the trial judge’s finding that Mr. Trump was liable for fraud. Both Mr. Trump and Ms. James’ office are appealing to the State’s highest court.
Mr. Trump denied wrongdoing. He has accused James’ office of bringing the case against him for political reasons.
James’ lawyer denies allegations
The Justice Department’s mortgage fraud probe into Ms. James was opened after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, a Mr. Trump appointee, sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department alleging Ms. James “falsified records” to obtain favorable loans on homes she purchased in Virginia and Brooklyn.
In his referral letter, Mr. Pulte wrote that Ms. James indicated in a mortgage application that a Virginia property she was buying in 2023 would be her primary residence, even though she lived in New York.
Ms. James’ lawyer Abbe Lowell has said that she mistakenly stated that the property would be a primary residence. He said she made it clear in other documents that it would not be her primary residence, and that her broker understood that. The Justice Department, after receiving referrals from Mr. Pulte, has also opened mortgage fraud probes into Schiff, a Democrat who led the House of Representatives’ inquiry that led to Mr. Trump’s impeachment in 2019, and Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden.
Neither Mr. Schiff nor Ms. Cook has been charged with a crime, and they both deny wrongdoing.
Loans for primary residences can carry lower rates than mortgages on investment properties or second homes, which banks consider riskier. It is unclear whether Ms. James’, Mr. Schiff’s, or Ms. Cook’s lenders took their intended use of the homes into account in determining rates.
Published – October 10, 2025 03:18 am IST
