The New York attorney general's office said on Tuesday it has now opened a criminal investigation into former president Donald Trump's company, increasing the legal risk for Trump and his family.

Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating whether the Trump ­Organization falsely reported property values to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits.

The latest announcement marked another escalation of the legal jeopardy Trump faces four months after leaving office, taking to three the number of known criminal investigations of the former Republican president.

"We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature," Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office, said in a statement.

"We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA," he said.

The Trump Organization, the former president's family-owned business, could not immediately be reached for comment. Trump has said that the investigation overseen by James, a Democrat, is politically motivated.

James has been investigating whether the Trump ­Organization inflated the values of some properties to obtain better loans, and lowered their values to obtain property tax breaks.

Separately, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has been investigating Trump's pre-presidency business dealings for more than two years.