New York Attorney General Letitia James, a longtime foe of US President Donald Trump, has been indicted for bank fraud.

Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Ms James had been indicted on one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a lending institution. 

The Justice Department has been probing mortgage fraud allegations against her.

“The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” Ms Halligan said.

Each count is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, but should Ms James be convicted, any sentence would be determined by a judge.

Ms James said in a statement that the criminal charges returned in her indictment on Thursday local time were “baseless”.

“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State attorney general,” she said in the statement.

Mr Trump, a Republican who campaigned for re-election in part on a vow of retribution after facing a slew of legal woes since his first term in the White House ended in 2021, has repeatedly assailed Ms James on social media and at political rallies as a partisan enemy.

Reuters

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