(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Embattled New York Attorney General Letitia James broke with other top New York officials over her refusal to release personal tax filings.
James, a Democrat who has faced a grand jury indictment tied to alleged mortgage fraud, said Friday she would not release her tax returns and suggested the decision rested with her staff.
“They will make that determination,” James told the New York Post at a Soros conference on Friday. “You know the practice. You speak to the comms director.”
When reached for comment, James’s communications director, Alexis Richards, said the office “was not releasing the Attorney General’s tax returns.”
Richards added, “All are welcome to review her annual financial disclosure when that is released.”
Financial fraud investigator Sam Antar wrote on X that James’s decision stems from what he described as an effort to keep the public from seeing “that she committed tax fraud in connection with her fraudulent mortgages.”
Headline USA reached out to Abbe Lowell, James’s attorney, for comment or response to those accusations.
James’s actions stand in contrast to disclosures from other top New York officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who both released recent financial filings.
Hochul reported $1.9 million in income, while Mamdani reported $143,008, most of it from his state assembly salary. New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has also released his tax returns, the Post reported.
James’s decision comes as she faces ongoing scrutiny over allegations related to a Virginia property purchase.
A grand jury previously indicted her on two counts of bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution tied to a home in Norfolk, Virginia. The case was later dismissed on procedural grounds tied to the appointment of the prosecutor.
Reports from the legacy media have since indicated that a grand jury declined to re-indict her on the same allegations. However, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte referred James for a second investigation in March, this time over allegations of insurance fraud
Lowell dismissed the allegations in remarks to the media, claiming: “Trump and his political enablers keep abusing their power to pursue a vendetta against her by trying to rename, refile, and repeat baseless allegations.”