Federal investigators uncovered evidence in 2016 that appeared to support allegations that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) married a man suspected of being her brother to help him obtain U.S. residency, according to a Thursday report by The New York Times. The investigation did not result in charges, with current and former officials telling the newspaper that the five-year statute of limitations was a major obstacle.

The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations examined Omar’s 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen who later became her former husband. Six current and former officials familiar with the investigation told the Times that agents found evidence suggesting the two were siblings. However, the report said it remains unclear what evidence investigators possessed to establish a family relationship.

The findings challenge Omar’s previous characterization of the earlier inquiry as having debunked allegations about the marriage. Omar has repeatedly denied the accusations, calling them a conspiracy theory.

“Rep. Omar has repeatedly and unequivocally denied this baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory,” Omar spokeswoman Jackie Rogers said in a statement. She described the renewed scrutiny as a political attack intended to distract from the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers.

Omar was already a U.S. citizen when she married Elmi in 2009. The two divorced in 2017. According to two former officials cited by the Times, Elmi received a conditional two-year green card through the marriage. When immigration authorities later sought additional evidence before granting him permanent status without conditions, he left the United States and abandoned his application.

Federal law prohibits entering into a marriage for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining immigration benefits. Marriage between siblings is also prohibited under state law. Investigators reportedly faced limited options to develop the case after prosecutors declined to pursue it, in part because the suspected immigration offense fell outside the five-year statute of limitations. Whether prosecutors could still bring charges remains uncertain.

The earlier investigation involved an FBI agent specializing in public corruption and civil rights cases, along with two Homeland Security Investigations agents, according to the Times.

The allegations first became public in 2016, when Omar was campaigning for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives. After a local television station reported that the U.S. attorney’s office had opened an investigation, Omar’s campaign sought clarification from Andrew Luger, then the U.S. attorney for Minnesota.

In an Aug. 22, 2016, letter, Luger wrote that his office was “not investigating, nor have we requested an investigation into Ms. Omar.” Omar subsequently described the letter as an exoneration that disproved the allegations.

Luger told the Times last week that the letter was never intended to address whether the underlying allegations were true. He said he was correcting an erroneous report that his office had asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement to investigate Omar. Luger also said federal agents could have been conducting their own inquiry without his knowledge and denied shielding the congresswoman from scrutiny.

The Trump administration has renewed scrutiny of Omar’s immigration history. Federal agents searched her Washington home on Oct. 12, according to the report, as investigators examined additional questions involving her family’s immigration records.

Those inquiries reportedly include whether Omar’s late father provided false or incomplete information during the immigration process and whether Omar was too old to qualify for citizenship through him in 2000. The allegations remain under investigation, and the report does not establish that Omar committed a crime.

Democrats have criticized the renewed investigation as politically motivated and argued that the search violated Justice Department policies intended to prevent law enforcement actions from influencing elections. President Donald Trump repeated the allegation about Omar’s marriage last week, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said the broader inquiry could have immigration consequences if authorities determine that Omar was not legally entitled to enter or remain in the United States.

The latest report leaves key questions unresolved, including the precise evidence investigators collected in 2016 and whether the current inquiry will result in charges or other consequences.