A federal grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia, refused to indict New York Legal professional Common Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud on Thursday, sources stated, rejecting the Division of Justice’s try to refile the case simply ten days after a federal choose dismissed an earlier case primarily based on the illegal appointment of the U.S. legal professional within the Japanese District of Virginia.
Federal prosecutors did not persuade a majority of grand jurors to approve costs that James misled a financial institution to acquire favorable phrases on a house mortgage, in keeping with sources.
The grand jury’s return of a “no true invoice” within the case marked a unprecedented rebuke by common residents of the Division of Justice’s try to carry costs towards James, an adversary of President Donald Trump who has been the goal of his repeated calls for prosecution.
A Justice Division consultant declined to remark.
James, in an announcement, stated she was grateful to the members of the grand jury.
“As I’ve stated from the beginning, the costs towards me are baseless,” James stated. “It’s time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to cease.”
Prosecutors have alleged that James, who efficiently introduced a civil fraud case towards Trump final 12 months, falsely listed a house she bought in 2020 as a second residence as an alternative of an funding property with a purpose to save probably $19,000 over the lifetime of the mortgage with a extra favorable mortgage price.
New York Legal professional Common, Letitia James, speaks after pleading not responsible exterior america District Court docket Oct. 24, 2025, in Norfolk, Va.
John Clark/AP
Following a direct name from Trump to prosecute James and different political adversaries, the president’s former legal professional and aide Lindsey Halligan secured an indictment towards James in October, however a choose dismissed the indictment after figuring out that Halligan was unlawfully serving because the U.S. legal professional within the Japanese District of Virginia.
U.S. District Decide Cameron Currie concluded that the legal professional common lacked the authority to nominate Halligan to the put up beneath federal legislation, nullifying any actions taken by her together with the indictments towards each James and former FBI director James Comey.
It is not instantly clear when or if prosecutors will once more search to cost Comey on allegations of creating false statements to Congress in 2020. However each Comey and James leveled separate legal challenges to the indictments towards them, together with the argument they had been vindictively prosecuted on the direct orders of President Trump, that would carry weight with judges contemplating whether or not to let their instances go ahead to trial.
As ABC Information beforehand reported, prosecutors who investigated James for attainable mortgage fraud discovered proof that appeared to undercut a few of the allegations within the indictment of James secured in September — together with lowering the diploma to which James allegedly personally profited from her buy of the property.
