Overview

• Federal grand jurors on Oct. 9 charged New York Attorney General Letitia James with bank fraud and false statements tied to a 2020 mortgage for a home in Norfolk, Virginia.
• The indictment alleges she signed a second-home rider to obtain favorable loan terms and then rented the property out.
• Lindsey Halligan, a former Trump lawyer newly installed as interim U.S. attorney, personally presented the case after Erik Siebert left the post under pressure.
• James and her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, deny the allegations, describe the prosecution as politically motivated, and she is scheduled to appear in federal court in Norfolk on Oct. 24.
• The charges follow the recent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey in the same district, and come after reports that career prosecutors previously saw insufficient evidence to charge James.