A federal grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia, refused to indict New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud on Thursday, sources stated, rejecting the Division of Justice’s try and refile the case simply ten days after a federal choose dismissed an earlier case based mostly 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 expenses that James misled a financial institution to acquire favorable phrases on a house mortgage, based on sources.
The grand jury’s return of a “no true invoice” within the case marked a rare rebuke by common residents of the Division of Justice’s try and convey expenses in opposition to James, an adversary of President Donald Trump who has been the goal of his repeated requires prosecution.
A Justice Division consultant declined to remark.
James, in a press release, stated she was grateful to the members of the grand jury.
“As I’ve stated from the beginning, the fees in opposition to 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 in opposition to Trump final yr, falsely listed a house she bought in 2020 as a second residence as an alternative of an funding property with the intention to save doubtlessly $19,000 over the lifetime of the mortgage with a extra favorable mortgage charge.
New York Lawyer Normal, Letitia James, speaks after pleading not responsible exterior the US 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 in opposition to 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 basic lacked the authority to nominate Halligan to the publish underneath federal regulation, nullifying any actions taken by her together with the indictments in opposition to 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 constructing false statements to Congress in 2020. However each Comey and James leveled separate authorized challenges to the indictments in opposition to them, together with the argument they had been vindictively prosecuted on the direct orders of President Trump, that might carry weight with judges contemplating whether or not to let their circumstances go ahead to trial.
As ABC Information beforehand reported, prosecutors who investigated James for attainable mortgage fraud discovered proof that appeared to undercut a number of the allegations within the indictment of James secured in September — together with decreasing the diploma to which James allegedly personally profited from her buy of the property.
