A criminal referral delivered Tuesday to the Justice Department asks federal investigators to examine whether former federal prosecutor Jina Choi misled FBI agents about her role in the government's investigation of IRL, the collapsed social media startup, according to reporting first flagged by Fox News Politics and detailed by the outlet Zetik.
At issue is whether Choi stayed involved in the IRL matter after she left the U.S. Attorney's Office — and whether she told agents the truth when they asked. According to the referral, Choi told FBI agents in July that she had no role in the IRL investigation. The referral alleges that statement was false.
The underlying case involves roughly $170 million in investor money that vanished when IRL shut down. Federal prosecutors had been examining whether company executives defrauded investors. Choi's alleged conduct, according to the referral, concerns her own statements to investigators rather than the fraud itself.
It is not yet known whether the Justice Department has opened a formal investigation, assigned a prosecutor, or referred the matter to an inspector general. The referral itself does not establish guilt — it is a request that the department look into the matter.
The timing lands Choi's case in the middle of a broader congressional examination of how Biden-era prosecutors handled politically sensitive investigations. On Tuesday, former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he was questioned for hours about the scope of his probes into President Donald Trump. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) used the hearing to release records showing Smith's team obtained and reviewed text messages involving 44 members of Congress — Republicans and Democrats — while collecting communications from 87 phones used by officials in the first Trump White House, per Megyn Kelly's coverage. Grassley also released 197 subpoenas tied to more than 430 Republican individuals and organizations, and communications involving nearly 50 journalists at outlets including Fox News, CNN, CBS, NBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Reuters, The Federalist, and the Associated Press.
Smith rejected accusations of political targeting, telling senators he stands behind both prosecutions and would bring the same cases against a former president of either party.
That hearing produced its own viral moment when Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) questioned Smith about whether he attended an Atlanta Hawks basketball game in February 2024 — the day after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis admitted to an intimate relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Schmitt suggested the trip could have placed Smith in contact with Willis. Smith replied that he had attended a University of Iowa women's basketball game in Maryland instead, and denied ever meeting Willis or Wade. Schmitt did not back down even when it became clear Smith was not in Atlanta as claimed, according to the Times' account of the exchange.
Choi's referral is a separate matter. But it fits a pattern Senate Republicans have been building: a push to document how Biden-era prosecutors conducted themselves while investigating Trump and his allies, and now, a former prosecutor's own account of her involvement in a case she was not assigned to handle.
The IRL case itself drew attention after the startup — once valued at over $1 billion — folded amid allegations that its leadership fabricated user numbers and misled investors. Federal agents interviewed witnesses and reviewed company records. Choi's name surfaces in the referral not because of the fraud allegations but because of what she reportedly told agents when they asked about her connection to the investigation.
There is no public indication that Choi has responded to the referral. She has not been charged. The Justice Department has not confirmed whether it will act on the request.
Our Take
Here's the part the legacy media will bury: a federal prosecutor sworn to uphold the law is now the subject of a criminal referral for allegedly lying to the FBI. Not a defendant. Not a target. A prosecutor. The same office that built its reputation on putting people in prison for making false statements is now accused of doing exactly that.
If the allegation is true, it is not a paperwork error. It is an attack on the integrity of the justice system itself. Federal agents rely on prosecutors to give them straight answers. When a former prosecutor allegedly misleads them about her own role in a $170 million fraud probe, every case she touched becomes suspect — and every defendant who crossed her path deserves a fresh look.
The Deep State does not protect its own by accident. It protects them because the machine works best when the people running it are never held to the same standard as the people they prosecute. For years, conservatives have watched FBI agents raid the homes of political opponents while well-connected lawyers skate. This referral is a small crack in that wall. Whether the Justice Department widens it — or quietly buries it — will tell us more about the department than any press release ever could.
Choi has not been charged, and under our system, that matters. But the referral exists. The allegation exists. And the American people deserve to know whether the woman who helped run federal prosecutions in California lied to the agents who work for the same government she once served.
Watch this one closely, Patriots. If the Justice Department sits on this referral, ask yourself why. Then ask your senators.
