A veteran prosecutor in New York Attorney General Letitia James' office says his supervisor ordered him to dig up dirt on former President Donald Trump, Truth Social and tech giant Hewlett Packard without any underlying crime to justify it — and he has now been placed on paid administrative leave after sending a staff-wide email accusing the office of political targeting. Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld works in James' Investor Protection Bureau, which polices securities fraud and corporate disclosures across the state.
According to the New York Post, Wiesenfeld says his boss instructed him to find and pursue crimes committed by Trump allies rather than investigate an existing crime. In his internal email, sent to roughly 2,000 OAG staffers on Friday, Wiesenfeld named Investor Protection Bureau Chief Shamiso Maswoswe as the supervisor who directed him to target Trump himself, Truth Social, and Hewlett Packard without a credible reason, per the email cited in the report. As reported by Just The News, state IT personnel subsequently purged the message from employee inboxes and agency computer servers after it went out on August 28.
A Whistleblower's Counter-Proposal
Wiesenfeld didn't just object — he offered an alternative. He asked colleagues to focus instead on nonprofit homeless shelter fraud and antisemitic crimes around synagogues, arguing that prosecutors should be pursuing existing crimes rather than targeting individuals and then searching for something to charge them with, according to the email. Maswoswe leads the bureau that enforces New York's Martin Act, a blue-sky statute that gives the Attorney General broad subpoena power to prosecute securities fraud without needing to prove intent, the same account notes.
Wiesenfeld had been entrusted with major litigation before his leave began, including an April lawsuit James filed against Coinbase and Gemini over alleged illegal gambling platforms, according to the New York Attorney General's Office. His mention of Hewlett Packard also touches a live regulatory flashpoint: the Department of Justice approved HP's $14 billion merger with Juniper Networks, a deal that had already drawn scrutiny from federal and state regulators.
State Whistleblower Law Looms Over the Case
New York Civil Service Law § 75-b bars public employers from retaliating against employees who report improper governmental action to a supervisor or public body, according to the New York State Senate. Whether Wiesenfeld's administrative leave amounts to retaliation under that statute — or whether it triggers a formal whistleblower claim or legislative oversight inquiry — remains an open question that has not been resolved.
The Attorney General's Office rejected the assertions that it targeted Trump allies, saying it is committed to upholding New York's laws and protecting all New Yorkers regardless of political beliefs. A representative for James separately called the controversy a personal matter in a statement to the Times-Union.
Republicans Pounce on the Allegations
New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox seized on the claims, telling the Post that James weaponized the attorney general's office into a political hit squad. Cox added that New Yorkers deserve an attorney general who prosecutes criminals, preserves public records, and enforces the law without fear or favor, and said James is unfit to serve.
The allegations land amid years of open hostility between James and Trump. During her 2018 campaign for attorney general, James vowed to prosecute the president for crimes committed in New York State, a pledge Trump has repeatedly cited as evidence that her office targeted him unfairly. In 2024, the Attorney General's Office won a civil fraud case against Trump, his sons, and his former company — a judgment an appeals court upheld, though the appellate panel also removed the massive financial payout tied to the case, a detail the two sides characterize differently as the litigation continues.
The dispute over Wiesenfeld's email is only the latest flashpoint between James and Trump, whom Hoodline has reported faces federal fraud charges after Trump publicly called for Justice Department action against her. The two have also clashed this year over records requests tied to Michael Cohen and over James' multistate lawsuits challenging Trump administration policy on FEMA funding and trucker data. Trump and James remain, by any measure, long-standing adversaries, and Wiesenfeld's leave now adds an internal dimension to a conflict that has largely played out in courtrooms.
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