The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have requested a 90-day extension from a U.S. District Court before releasing documents related to an alleged 1990s drug investigation involving President Bola Tinubu.
This request was filed on Thursday as part of a joint status report submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The case stems from multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made by Aaron Greenspan, a U.S. legal transparency advocate and founder of the platform PlainSite. Greenspan is seeking documents tied to a drug trafficking operation based in Chicago and has named Tinubu, along with Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele, in his filings.
Judge Beryl Howell had previously ordered the FBI and DEA to provide a progress update on locating and releasing non-exempt documents by May 2, 2025. However, in the recent status report, the two agencies stated that more time was needed to complete their document searches.
According to the filing, both agencies have begun searching for records that meet the criteria outlined in Greenspan’s FOIA requests, specifically, FBI Request Nos. 1588244-000 and 1593615-000, and DEA Request Nos. 22-00892-F and 24-00201-F—and anticipate finalizing their searches within 90 days.
Greenspan opposed the request, arguing that the agencies have already delayed the process for years and that some relevant documents have already been identified. He is pushing for a much shorter deadline.
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