ALBANY — New York Attorney General Letitia James has been indicted on federal criminal charges by a grand jury in Virginia following a monthslong investigation by the FBI examining her real estate and mortgage transactions.
Lindsey Halligan, who President Donald J. Trump appointed last month as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, personally handled the presentation of the case to the grand jury. James was indicted on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution after obtaining a mortgage with terms for a “secondary residence” that she allegedly rented to a family of three, which would have made it an investment property.
James is a statewide elected official with offices in Albany, and the transactions at the center of the investigation involve her personal property purchases and loans that were processed in New York City and Virginia. Some of the transactions under scrutiny would fall outside the federal statute of limitations, although one of the mortgages involves James’ assertions in loan documents related to her 2023 purchase of a residence in Norfolk, Va…