Attorney General Pam Bondi was reportedly blindsided Thursday when Lindsey Halligan, President Donald Trump’s newly appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, secured an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James without any prior coordination with Justice Department leadership in Washington, D.C., according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
The indictment centers on a 2020 property purchase in Norfolk, Virginia, where prosecutors claim James misrepresented the home as a secondary residence to secure better mortgage terms. According to court filings, she later rented the property out, violating the terms of her mortgage and saving nearly $19,000 in interest over the life of the loan.
Two officials told CNN that Bondi and top Justice Department figures were “caught off guard” by Halligan’s decision to move forward independently. Halligan, who has led the Virginia office for just over two weeks, allegedly bypassed normal channels and took the case straight to a grand jury—resulting in James’s surprise indictment on two felony counts: bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
If convicted, James faces up to 30 years in prison per count, fines up to $1 million per count, and possible forfeiture of the property. However, sentencing would ultimately depend on federal guidelines and the discretion of the presiding judge.