Federal prosecutors open new probe into AG Letitia James over financial ties to longtime hairdresser
Federal prosecutors launched an early-stage criminal probe into New York Attorney General Letitia James over financial transactions with her longtime hairdresser Iyesata Marsh, sources said.
Overview
Federal prosecutors in multiple districts have opened an early-stage criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James focusing on financial transactions linked to her longtime hairdresser, Iyesata Marsh.
The probe is jointly led by U.S. attorneys in the Western District of Louisiana and the Northern District of New York and is described as being in early stages.
The investigation follows prior failed attempts by the Justice Department to indict James, including a dismissed mortgage fraud indictment and two unsuccessful grand juries reviving charges.
Prosecutors are probing loans and campaign payments connected to Marsh, who faces separate bank fraud and identity theft charges tied to a 2019 Land Rover purchase.
James' attorney calls the efforts politically motivated; a judge recently disqualified an acting U.S. attorney from related probes and quashed subpoenas she had challenged.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame this coverage as skeptical of the Justice Department’s motives, emphasizing procedural failures and political context. They foreground defense statements and judicial setbacks, use qualifying language like "perceived political enemies," and highlight unnamed sources and omissions of prosecutor perspectives, creating a narrative of politically driven investigations.
Sources (3)
FAQ
Prosecutors are examining financial transactions between Letitia James or her campaign and her longtime hairdresser Iyesata Marsh, including campaign payments for renting a Brooklyn studio Marsh owns and for a musical performance at a political event in Albany, as part of a broader inquiry into whether any campaign-finance or fraud laws were violated.
No, reports state that James has not been accused of wrongdoing in the new probe; prosecutors are in an early fact‑gathering phase focused on the transactions and have not brought charges against her in connection with the hairdresser‑related inquiry.
Iyesata Marsh is Letitia James’ longtime hairdresser who received campaign payments from James’ political operation; she was separately indicted in federal court in Louisiana on identity theft and related bank‑fraud charges connected to the purchase of a Land Rover from a Florida dealership, in a case that does not name James.
James and her lawyer argue the probe is part of a pattern of politically driven efforts by the Trump‑aligned Justice Department to retaliate against her for pursuing civil fraud and other cases against Donald Trump and his business, pointing to prior failed federal attempts to indict her and describing the new inquiry as an abuse of prosecutorial power to pressure people associated with her.
In a separate case, James was indicted in Virginia on mortgage‑fraud–related charges, but a judge dismissed the indictment after ruling that the U.S. attorney who secured it had been unlawfully appointed; prosecutors have since tried and failed twice before grand juries to revive the charges and are appealing the dismissal.
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