Letitia James sucht nach Insiderhandel in Trumps innerem Kreis

As per [original article](https://www.businessinsider.com/ny-attorney-general-letitia-james-trump-tariffs-insider-trading-investigation-2025-5) 📰:

– Letitia James is continuing to look for possible insider trading in Trump’s inner circle.

– The NY attorney general’s inquiry centers on Trump’s markets-roiling flip-flops on tariffs.

– Former AG prosecutors say James’ inquiry is an unprecedented use of NY’s century-old Martin Act.

New York’s Letitia James is easily the most aggressive state attorney general in the country when it comes to suing President Donald Trump.

She’s on the front lines of 15 legal actions brought by coalitions of Democratic AGs, all seeking to block executive orders and DOGE cuts, Her $454 million fraud verdict against Trump and his real estate company remains on appeal in Manhattan.

But James’ most daring excursion into Trumpworld may be one she has yet to formally announce.

It’s an ongoing inquiry into potential insider trading by the president’s inner circle, centered on last month’s markets-roiling tariff policies.

James’ so-called inquiry — the formal name for a kind of probe that falls short of a full-blown investigation — has rounded its second month, an AG spokesman confirmed to Business Insider, declining to divulge details beyond saying the office is “looking at” possible insider trading.

What would an inquiry involve? And, more importantly, what are its odds?

Business Insider asked a half-dozen legal experts, including three former high-level financial-fraud prosecutors from the New York AG’s office.

Opinions range wildly.

Some pointed to the perennial concerns over insider trading by members of Congress. They called James’ inquiry a proper, even necessary, exercise of the power vested in an attorney general whose Manhattan office sits three blocks north of the Stock Exchange.

Others called her inquiry a politically motivated boondoggle that’s doomed to fail. “This is a story of politics, not a story of law,” said Richard Epstein, a law professor at New York University.

But there was unanimity on two points. Proving insider trading is notoriously difficult. And whatever is happening behind the scenes is unprecedented.

“There’s been nothing like this,” said Manhattan attorney Armen Morian, a former financial crimes prosecutor for the New York AG’s office who helped defend Trump during James’ fraud case.

An 800-pound gorilla of a statute

The inquiry is empowered by New York’s Martin Act, a 104-year-old statute that gives state attorneys general extraordinary powers to police Wall Street.

Legal experts call the Martin Act the most powerful state securities-fraud law in the country. It allows the AG to issue subpoenas, grill suspects under oath, and file civil lawsuits or criminal charges.

In a 2018 essay, Epstein called the Martin Act “an 800-pound gorilla,” a term he said he still stands by.

It prosecutes securities and real estate frauds and is used only rarely for insider trading, which is the illegal profiting off of stock tips not available to the public.

Legal experts and three veterans of the AG’s office who have brought prosecutions under the Martin Act say they’ve never heard of it being used to investigate insider tips involving government policy, in this case, Trump’s on-and-off tariffs.

The novelty of James’ inquiry does not, in itself, doom her effort, said a former financial crimes prosecutor who asked not to be named, citing work constraints against speaking to the press.

“There is a body of Martin Act insider trading law — just not on these exact facts — that has been developed over decades,” the former prosecutor said. “And remember, the facts of every case are always novel.”

What is an AG inquiry, and how does it work?

An “inquiry” is what the New York AG’s office calls the earliest stage of a probe — before subpoenas go out, explained former Executive Attorney General Manisha M. Sheth. Now a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Sheth oversaw the AG’s Division of Economic Justice.

Securities inquiries can be sparked by whistleblower tips or by allegations that surface publicly in the press or a lawsuit, she told BI.

They are handled by the state investor protection bureau, one of the six divisions Sheth once supervised, she said. There, prosecutors working with the AGs’ research analysts and data scientists would begin by reviewing raw trading data, she said. They’ll look for suspicious patterns.

Were there spikes in trading, for instance, on April 9, in the hours before Trump posted on Truth Social, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” triggering a market upswing?

At some point, the bureau would send out a flutter of “inquiry letters,” authorized by the bureau’s chief or deputy chief and signed by the assistant attorney general handling the matter, Sheth said.

“Such letters can ask for documents, data, or information,” she said. “Sometimes the recipient of an inquiry letter may volunteer to meet with the office to provide the requested information.”

Cooperating at this early stage is completely voluntary. If a case advances to the point that subpoenas are issued, an inquiry will have graduated to an investigation, Sheth said.

“I do think it’s going to start with using trading data to show that no reasonable person would have engaged in these trades without that non-public information,” said Anthony Capozzolo, a former federal and state prosecutor.

“You’re going to want to, at the least, build an initial case that shows it’s very likely that the only motivating factor for these trades was this allegedly inside information.”

Continues at [Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/ny-attorney-general-letitia-james-trump-tariffs-insider-trading-investigation-2025-5) 🗞️

This is the way. While Trump can pardon the MAGAts on a Federal level, he has no power to do so with states. Lock them cheating scumbags up, every single one of them.

Similarly, I’m looking for Whoppers in a Burger King. 

His children. It’s not that hard.

Letitia is really brave man. She must get death threats all day

Crucify these motherfuckers.

Metaphorically, I mean.

Somebody finna get deported.

She should start with the politicians in ny. We have the worst!

What about the outer circle? @mtgreenee insider traded

How come she never hunted in the Biden administration?

Good. Light their asses up.

She’s like an attack dog!

Shouldn’t be too hard