WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee is again deferring an investigation into Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm, a former FBI agent, for possible campaign- finance violations — leaving the matter in the hands of the Justice Department, which is conducting a criminal probe.

The committee said the Republican congressman remains under investigation by the Justice Department for possibly violating campaign-finance laws by soliciting and accepting prohibited contributions from foreign donors, actions that may have caused false information to be included in campaign-finance reports.

One focus of the investigation is whether Grimm improperly offered to help Ofer Biton, an Israeli citizen, obtain a green card.

Biton has close ties to Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, an Israeli rabbi whose wealthy, zealous followers donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Grimm’s 2010 campaign.