Shepard Fairey, the left-wing artist best known for the iconic “Hope” poster used during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, is under criminal investigation. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein permitted the disclosure of the investigation for the first time today.

This in addition to being pursued legally by the Associated Press for copyright infringement over the use of the agency’s photo for the famous Obama poster. The judge actually disclosed the investigation in a handwritten note, in which he denied a request by Fairey’s lawyer to close the copyright infringement hearing.

According the report, the US Attorney began a grand jury investigation after Fairey said he, “erred about which AP photo he used as the basis for “HOPE” and had submitted false images and deleted other images to conceal his mistake”.

The judge proceeded to deny Fairey’s request, through his lawyer, to delay the trial for several months. It’s said that Fairey will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights if questioned about the case during a deposition.