Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James may have thought she'd dodged accountability when a Democrat-appointed federal judge dismissed a criminal indictment against her, but that assumption was incorrect.

A conservative watchdog group has filed a formal complaint of professional misconduct against James with the Empire State Bar Association, according to Fox News.

The complaint urged the association to conduct its own independent investigation of the dismissed criminal allegations against New York's top prosecutor, and to take any disciplinary actions that may be warranted.

Federal indictment dismissed

On October 9, the Justice Department announced that a criminal indictment had been returned by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia against New York AG James for alleged bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.

Per Fox News, James was accused of fraudulently misleading a bank, a home insurance company, and the IRS in 2020 and thereafter when she purchased a home in Norfolk, Virginia, that she claimed under oath would serve as a secondary residence for herself and not an investment property, when in fact she never lived there and instead rented it out to a family member.

Had James been tried and convicted on those charges, she would have faced up to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine for each count, according to the DOJ release.

However, a federal judge recently dismissed the indictment against James -- as well as one against former FBI Director James Comey -- without prejudice, meaning the charges can be refiled later, on a technicality that stemmed from questions about the legality of the appointment of the interim U.S. attorney who obtained the indictments, Lindsey Halligan.

James' "illegal and dishonest conduct" should be investigated

While it initially seemed that James would escape the potential consequences of her alleged illegal acts, the New York Post reported that the right-leaning Center to Advance Security in America just filed a formal bar complaint against the state's attorney general.

The four-page complaint, filed with the state bar association's Attorney Grievance Committee, called for a probe of the alleged "illegal and dishonest conduct" by James that resulted in the now-dismissed federal indictment against her.

"Fraud, misrepresentation, honesty, and trustworthiness are all factors that the Rules of Professional Conduct expressly factor when weighing whether to discipline an attorney," Curtis Schube, the director of research and policy for the watchdog group, wrote in the filing.

He added, "The Committee, therefore, should immediately investigate the allegations against James and, if by 'preponderance of the evidence' the allegations are substantiated, she should be disciplined accordingly."

James shouldn't celebrate too much

The Post noted that, in reaction to the legal reprieve she'd been granted by a Clinton-appointed federal judge, James said in a statement that she was "heartened" by the support she'd received and the dismissal of the "baseless charges" brought against her by the Trump administration.

However, James may want to refrain from celebrating too much, as both the criminal indictment and the formal complaint lay out ample evidence in support of the fraud and false statement allegations against her.

Furthermore, upon learning the news of the dismissed charges against James and Comey, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said during an unrelated press conference, "We’ll be taking all available legal action, including an immediate appeal to hold Letitia James and James Comey accountable for their unlawful conduct."