Federal prosecutors are in the early stages of an investigation into the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The probe is focused on whether James’ office caused a deprivation of legal rights under the color of law through its civil suits against Trump and his businesses as well as the National Rifle Association, these people said. The investigation is being run out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, two of these sources said.
In response to an NBC News inquiry, a spokesperson for the AG’s office said: “Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not return a request for comment.
James successfully sued Trump and his company over what her office said were fraudulent misrepresentations of his wealth and financial statements. A judge awarded James’ office over $300 million in a disgorgement penalty, but the case is on appeal.
James’ office also sued the NRA and its leadership with mixed results. The attorney general had sought the dissolution of the NRA in what is commonly referred to as the corporate “death penalty,” but a judge struck down those claims.
In 2024, James’ office did win its civil fraud case against the longtime head of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, with a jury convicting him of diverting millions of dollars from the gun group for his own personal lifestyle.
It is not immediately clear how far along the DOJ investigation into James’ office is and what evidence, if any, the Justice Department has gathered in the probe.
The investigation is at least the second by the Trump administration involving James. Earlier this year, Justice Department and FBI officials opened a federal criminal investigation into allegations that James made false claims in mortgage applications.
Her attorney, Abbe Lowell, described the documents as mistakes in an April letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and said there were contemporaneous letters and forms that James filed that had the correct information.
The letter called the “threadbare allegations” the “next salvo in President Trump’s revenge tour against Attorney General James.”
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