New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating former President Donald Trump's business, the Trump Organization, "in a criminal capacity," her office says, ratcheting up scrutiny of Trump's real estate transactions and other dealings.
The state attorney general is joining forces with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who has been conducting a separate criminal inquiry into Trump's business practices and possible insurance or financial fraud as well as alleged hush money payments to two women who said they had affairs with Trump before he became president.
Trump has in the past refused to cooperate with the investigations, calling them instances of "political persecution." Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Vance to subpoena Trump's tax returns and other financial documents.
Here's a brief recap of where things currently stand:
Prosecutors team up
The new collaboration between the state and local offices is an unusual event in itself: In New York, the attorney general and the district attorney have historically been rivals. But in this case, they're working together.
Two assistant attorneys general have now joined the district attorney's team of prosecutors. They're all trying to unravel troves of complicated information, including millions of pages of tax returns and other documents related to how the Trump Organization operates in the U.S. as well as its sprawling international enterprises.
With the shift in focus from James' office, we now know that both of these prosecution teams are making a determined and coordinated effort to sift through evidence of possible crimes.
As of now, it's not clear whether Trump, or members of his family, are potential subjects of the state's criminal investigation.
As for what the investigators might unearth, Tristan Snell, a former assistant attorney general in New York's Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection, cited his earlier work helping New York investigate and prosecute Trump's business over fraud allegations at Trump University.
The former prosecutor says the current inquiries could benefit from the way Trump's businesses are set up.
"One of the things that people need to remember about the Trump Organization is that they are a very small operation ultimately, basically run by a tiny handful of people," Snell says.
"They outsourced everything," Snell says, later adding, "That was a boon to us with the Trump University case, because it meant that we were able to go get the documents we needed from third parties, even after the Trump team stonewalled us."
Prosecutors are not providing many details beyond describing the general scope of their inquiries. And while news of the criminal aspect of the state's inquiry emerged late Tuesday, the Trump Organization was notified in April, according to The Washington Post.
The Trump Organization has not responded to requests for comments on this latest development, although Trump has issued a statement calling the criminal inquiry another example of a political
hunt.