Trump Org trial: NY fraud case has so much evidence that defense complains they don't have time to review it
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, left. Nicolas Economou/Getty Images, right.
- The NY attorney general's Trump Org fraud case is huge, the defense says in seeking a trial delay.
- It would take one person 11,000 hours to review the AG's 275,000 documents of evidence, they say.
- The AG counters that Trump should already be familiar with most of the documents, since they're his.
The New York attorney general's fraud case against Donald Trump, his family, and his real-estate empire is so voluminous that it will take as many as 11,000 man-hours to review it, the defense said in seeking to delay an October trial date.
The heftiness of Attorney General Letitia James' evidence was described by the defense in a recent court filing.
The evidence filled four computer hard drives that the attorney general turned over to the defense in December. It includes some 275,000 documents totaling 2.6 million pages, according to the filing, which was prepared by the Virginia-based document processing firm HaystackID.
The four drives don't even include additional evidence the attorney general has also turned over to the defense, including transcripts for more than 50 witnesses deposed by her office during a three-year investigation of Trump and his business.
On Monday, the Manhattan judge who will preside over the trial, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, set March 21 for a hearing to determine if a delay will be granted. But he has repeatedly promised that the trial date is set in stone.
Trump has asked for a six-month delay to an October 2, 2023 start date for the civil trial which, if he loses, would cripple his $2 billion real-estate and golf-resort company.
James alleged in a 200-page lawsuit in September that Trump engaged in a decade-long pattern of widely misrepresenting the worth of his properties in financial documents sent to banks, insurers, and tax authorities.
She is seeking to bar Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump from selling, buying, borrowing against or collecting rent from any property in the state.
A half-year delay would move the bench trial into the thick of the 2024 GOP primary and presidential campaign.
"It will take one reviewer up to 11,000 hours to review roughly 275,000 documents," said HaystackID executive vice president, Todd Haley, in the filing. He noted that a single reviewer on average can look at between 200-400 documents in an eight-hour work day.
HaystackID is a GOP-tied company that both sides agreed to bring in last year to help with subpoena compliance.
Trump's legal team has maintained that the attorney general is waging a politically-motivated "witch hunt" against him and his company. All 16 defendants in James' lawsuit have denied her allegations.
In fighting against any trial-date delay, lawyers for the attorney general's office have accused Trump's side of intentionally dragging their heels.
They also counter that the massive trove of evidence should hold few surprises to Trump's side, as the bulk of it comes from his own employees, company, accountants, and appraisers.