•Tinubu
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have requested an additional 90 days from a United States District Court to produce investigative reports related to an alleged drug case involving President Bola Tinubu.
This was contained in a joint status report filed with the US District Court for the District of Columbia yesterday, reports Daily Trust.
The case concerns Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a Chicago drug ring dating back to the 1990s.
However, the plaintiff, Aaron Greenspan, an American legal transparency advocate and founder of the platform PlainSite, rejected the 90-day extension and instead proposed a 14-day deadline for the FBI and DEA to produce the relevant records.
The District Court, presided over by Judge Beryl Howell, had earlier ordered the FBI and DEA to provide a status update on the search and release of non-exempt documents by May 2, 2025.
Greenspan filed 12 FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023, seeking information about a Chicago-based drug ring in which four individuals, including Tinubu, were allegedly involved.
Previously, the FBI and DEA had issued “Glomar responses,” refusing to confirm or deny the existence of the requested records. However, the court ruled that such responses were inappropriate in this case.
In the Joint Status Report filed on May 1, 2025, the FBI and DEA informed the court that they needed more time to complete their searches.
Despite this, Greenspan argued that the agencies should produce unredacted versions of the documents they had already identified by next week.
The report reads, “Aaron Greenspan (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the only remaining defendants in this case, respectfully submit the following joint status report proposing a schedule to govern further proceedings, pursuant to the Court’s Order of April 8, 2025 (ECF No. 47).
“Pursuant to the Court’s order, the defendants FBI and DEA must search for and produce non-exempt records responsive to the plaintiff’s FOIA requests (FBI Requests Nos. 1588244-000 and 1593615- 000, and DEA Request Nos. 22-00892-F and 24-00201-F).
“The FBI and DEA have initiated their searches for responsive, non-exempt, reasonably segregable portions of records requested by the plaintiff and anticipate completing their searches in ninety days.
“Given the years-long delay already caused by the defendants and the fact that many responsive documents have already been identified, the plaintiff proposes that the FBI and DEA complete their searches and productions by next week, or, at the very least, produce unredacted versions of the already-identified documents by next week, with the remainder completed in 14 days. The defendants provide no rationale for why their search for documents should take 90 days.
“The plaintiff intends to request reimbursement for his costs: the filing fee of $402.00 and $38.22 for certified mail postage, totalling $440.22.
“The defendants propose that the parties submit a joint status report on or before July 312025 to update the Court on the case status following the agencies’ search for responsive, non-exempt, reasonably segregable records requested by the plaintiff. The plaintiff proposes that they submit a joint status report on or before May 31, 2025.”
