New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday pleaded not guilty to two charges of felony bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
Prosecutors claimed that, in order to obtain more favorable loan conditions, James misled a bank about the intended use of a residence she purchased. The indictment against the New York attorney general states that she said a home in Norfolk, Virginia, which she bought in 2020, would be her secondary residence, but that she instead rented it out to family.
“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system,” James said in a statement after she was indicted.
“These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” she continued.
Abbe Lowell, James’s lawyer, wrote to the judge in the case about statements made by prosecutor Lindsey Halligan:
These extrajudicial statements and prejudicial disclosures by any prosecutor, let alone one purporting to be the U.S. attorney, run afoul of and violate the federal rules of criminal procedure, the code of federal regulations, this court’s local rules, various rules of ethical and professional responsibility and D.O.J.’s justice manual.
The indictment stated that, by obtaining a lower interest for the mortgage, she would save $19,000 over the 30-year loan.
James campaigned in 2016 based on promises to investigate Donald Trump’s actions and businesses.
She led a civil fraud cause against then-former President Donald Trump in 2024; however, in August 2025 an appeals court tossed the significant financial penalty against the 47th president.
White House aide Lindsey Halligan, whom Trump tapped as the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, led the indictment against James.
“No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” Halligan said in a statement.
“The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
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