McAuliffe, who started GreenTech by purchasing a Chinese company and moving it to America, resigned as the company’s chairman in late 2012.

The GreenTech visa applications were tied to a partner company, Gulf Coast Funds Management, run by Anthony Rodham, a brother of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Republicans have leapt to connect the McAuliffe probe to Clinton, a McAuliffe confidante now on the cusp of becoming the Democratic nominee for president. McAuliffe himself has alluded to the presidential campaign as a possible motivation for what he has called “leaks” from federal officials.

Randall D. Eliason, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, including eight years as a member of the public corruption and government fraud section, said he has not followed the details of the McAuliffe investigation but pointed out that once an investigation or grand jury process begins, prosecutors and investigators can see leaks spring from sources outside of their control.

“What can happen and what frequently happens is someone gets a subpoena or someone gets called in to be interviewed. They’re not obligated by any grand jury secrecy,” said Eliason, who is now on the faculty at George Washington University Law School.