The Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James and appointed a special prosecutor to examine her real estate transactions, according to multiple people familiar with the developments. 

According to The New York Times (NYT), the civil rights probe is reviewing whether James’s office violated civil rights laws in its handling of certain high-profile cases, including a successful fraud suit and a long-running lawsuit against the National Rifle Association, sources said. In the NRA case, filed in 2020, James secured the removal of the organization’s longtime leader, Wayne LaPierre, and reduced the group’s political influence.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Albany issued two subpoenas to James’s office — one connected to the fraud case and another to the NRA litigation. Two sources familiar with the matter said the subpoenas are part of a broader inquiry into whether the office violated the rights of the individuals or entities it pursued. This is an uncommon use of a civil rights law more typically applied in cases involving racial, religious, or sex discrimination.

On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Ed Martin, a far-right former interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., as special prosecutor to oversee the real estate investigation. According to two people briefed on the move, the review is focused on whether James misrepresented information about properties in Brooklyn and Virginia to secure favorable loan terms — allegations her attorney has described as unfounded, according to the NYT.

Abbe Lowell, James’s lawyer, said the civil rights inquiry tied to the fraud case is “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.” He added that Martin’s appointment “makes it crystal clear this is a manufactured investigation to pursue political retribution.”

The civil rights statute being used for the investigation typically addresses cases where law enforcement officials misuse their authority to deprive individuals of their rights, the NYT reported. While it is often employed in incidents involving police or corrections misconduct, it does not require a specific motive for prosecution.

The FBI confirmed earlier this year that James’s personal real estate dealings were under investigation. The properties in question are valued at less than $2 million, a fraction of the figures in the fraud case that her office previously prosecuted.