New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office said that it was working alongside the Manhattan District Attorney in an ongoing criminal fraud investigation against Trump Organization.
“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature,” Fabien Levy, a spokesman for James, said in a statement. “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA We have no additional comment at this time.”
The two offices have been conducting parallel probes for more than a year, though the inquiry by the office of New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James, has been a civil one, meaning it could result in a lawsuit or fines.
The Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus R Vance Jr, has been conducting a criminal investigation, which could result in charges. The new development, first reported by CNN, was disclosed after the Attorney General’s office wrote to the Trump Organization in recent days notifying it that information collected as part of the civil inquiry could now be used as part of a criminal investigation, reported New York Times.
A lawyer for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though in the past, Trump, a Republican, has attacked both investigations as politically motivated fishing expeditions. Vance and James are both Democrats.The long-running criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney has focused on an array of potential financial crimes at the Trump Organization, including tax and bank-related fraud.