The Office of the Inspector General at the US justice department has referred its findings on Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director, to the US attorney in Washington for possible criminal prosecution, according to a person familiar with the referral on Thursday.

Spokesmen for the justice department and its inspector general’s office declined to comment to Reuters, as did a spokeswoman for McCabe. A spokesman for the US attorney’s office in Washington could not be immediately reached.

Such a referral does not automatically mean charges will be filed, and it would be up to the US attorney’s office to evaluate the referral and decide whether to prosecute McCabe.

The referral, first reported by CNN and the Washington Post, comes nearly one week after the inspector general said it had concluded that McCabe had misled investigators over a decision to break with the FBI’s standard policy and inform a journalist about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016.

McCabe, a frequent target of criticism by Donald Trump, was fired last month just hours before he was set to retire.