State Representative Ben Arredondo's lawyers say they just got so much information from the government about what the FBI's been up to that they're going to need almost two extra months to deal with the stuff.
After Arredondo was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, attempted extortion, and making false statements, a motion to keep evidence in the case secret mentioned "other investigations," which are both closed and ongoing.
The best indication of what that's all about is mentioned in today's filing, requesting that extra time to review documents related to a "three-year undercover FBI investigation."
Aside from what was mentioned in Arredondo's indictment, the public knows slightly -- very slightly -- more than absolutely nothing about what's going on with these other investigations.
Now, based on today's filing, we know that the evidence related to this investigation includes more than 10,000 pages of documents and around 50 hours of audio and video recordings -- so far.
"The Government has also indicated that this initial production will be followed in the coming weeks by additional productions of similar volume," the filing says.
Arredondo's the only one to go down thus far in this "three-year undercover FBI investigation," which includes allegations of getting tickets to sporting events worth about $6,000 from a company during his time as a Tempe councilman, in exchange for helping this company buy city-owned land for a real estate development.
Arredondo found out last month that this "company" was fake, and set up by FBI agents.
The discovery documents -- which aren't typically made public -- were ordered to be kept secret because of this grand investigation, and no one in the world but a handful of people knows exactly why Arredondo's the only one who's been indicted in this.
Based on the multiple productions of thousands of documents referenced by Arredondo's lawyers, it would seem it's a bit more than Arredondo trying to hit up a few sporting events.
"Arredondo and his counsel will need a significant amount of time to analyze this discovery (which covers a three-year undercover FBI investigation), and to engage the assistance of experts and develop his defense," the filing says. "The current court deadlines are insufficient to allow Arredondo to properly engage in motion practice and prepare for trial."
That's the whole explanation of the investigation.
The filing says the feds have no objection to this request for more time, which would move the trial date from July 3 to September 1.
