Justice Department lawyers have turned over 1.5 million pages of records in HOA case
Justice Department lawyers say they have turned over more than 1.5 million pages of documents to defense lawyers in the sweeping investigation into the scheme to take over Las Vegas Valley homeowners associations.
And they still have more records to provide.
In court papers Friday, prosecutors with the Justice Department’s fraud section in Washington asked U.S. District Judge James Mahan to give them until the end of the month to turn over what they called the “large volume” of remaining electronic materials gathered by investigators.
In addition to the 1.5 million pages, prosecutors said they have turned over 440 memos of FBI interviews, 270 FBI and police investigative reports, more than 6,300 pages of transcripts from audio recordings and more than 200 audio and video recordings.
The massive amount of evidence is part of the high-profile fraud case against former construction company boss Leon Benzer and 10 others indicted in January. The defendants are to stand trial March 3.
The indictment was the Justice Department’s final push to charge conspirators in what has become the largest public corruption investigation ever brought by federal authorities in Nevada.
A total of 29 defendants have been convicted since the investigation became public in September 2008 with a joint FBI-Las Vegas police raid across the valley. Most of those defendants are cooperating.
Prosecutors have revealed a vast conspiracy to swindle the 11 homeowners associations out of millions of dollars.
Benzer, 46, and the late construction defects lawyer Nancy Quon are accused of pulling the strings in the scheme. Quon, 51, committed suicide in March 2012 under the weight of the sweeping investigation. She was not charged at the time.
The scheme involved getting straw buyers elected to association boards to help Benzer and Quon land lucrative legal and construction contracts, prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors asked Mahan on Friday to put off a Tuesday hearing to evaluate the process of turning over the evidence until next month.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.
