STATUS REPORT re Seized Devices as to Darrell Thomas, Andre Lee Gaines, Kahlil Gibran… — USA v. Thomas et al (Dkt. 96)

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A Status Report Regarding Production of Seized Devices, Document 96, stamped Filed 03/10/21, in United States of America v. Darrell Thomas, Andre Lee Gaines, Bern Benoit and Carla Jackson, Criminal Action No. 1:20-cr-296-JPB-AJB, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. The Government reports under the court's February 24, 2021 Order (Doc. 93) on devices seized from Thomas's residence. The FBI has imaged a laptop, a thumb drive and a laptop with two hard drives, completed a filter review for privileged material and can provide the full forensic images, needing 2 terabytes of storage. The remaining devices, including five cell phones, a tablet and a hardware wallet, are locked or encrypted and the time frame for examining them is unknown.

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA 
ATLANTA DIVISION 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
v. 
DARRELL THOMAS,  
ANDRE LEE GAINES,  
BERN BENOIT A/K/A BURN 
BENOIT,  
AND CARLA JACKSON 
 
Criminal Action 
No. 1:20-cr-296-JPB-AJB 
 
 
Status Report Regarding Production of Seized Devices 
Pursuant to the Court’s February 24, 2021 Order (Doc. 93), the United States 
of America, by Kurt R. Erskine, Acting United States Attorney, and Tal C. 
Chaiken, Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, 
respectfully submits this Status Report regarding the devices seized from 
Defendant Darrell Thomas’s residence: 
To date, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the “FBI”) has been able to 
image three of the seized devices (a laptop, a thumb drive, and a laptop 
containing two hard drives).  The FBI has completed a filter review to identify 
any potentially privileged material.  The United States can provide the entire 
forensic image of each device to the defendants, and will require a 2 terabyte 
drive to do so.  Given the volume of data, the United States is still in the process 
of reviewing the data extracted from the devices to identify materials it may 
introduce at trial. 
Case 1:20-cr-00296-JPB-CMS     Document 96     Filed 03/10/21     Page 1 of 3

 
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The remaining devices (five cell phones, a tablet, a hardware wallet, and a 
laptop) are locked and/or encrypted.  Without the passwords or decryption keys 
for these devices, the FBI has not to date been able to access these devices.  Some 
of these devices have been sent to a specialized unit within FBI for further 
attempts to unlock and/or decrypt the devices.  However, due to the volume of 
locked and/or encrypted devices awaiting examination, the time-frame for an 
examination of the devices is currently not known.     
 
Respectfully submitted, this 10th day of March 2021.  
 
 
KURT R. ERSKINE 
Acting United States Attorney 
 
 
 
Tal C. Chaiken 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Georgia Bar No. 273949 
Tal.Chaiken@usdoj.gov  
 
 
 
 
 
Case 1:20-cr-00296-JPB-CMS     Document 96     Filed 03/10/21     Page 2 of 3

 
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Certificate of Service 
 
The United States Attorney’s Office served this document today by filing it 
using the Court’s CM/ECF system, which automatically notifies the parties and 
counsel of record. 
Anthony O. Egbase 
Benjamin Black Alper 
Bobby-Thompson Chudi Aniekwu 
Brian Mendelsohn 
David D. Marshall 
Howard Jarrett Weintraub 
 
March 10, 2021 
 
/s/ TAL C. CHAIKEN  
 
TAL C. CHAIKEN 
 
Assistant United States Attorney 
 
 
 
Case 1:20-cr-00296-JPB-CMS     Document 96     Filed 03/10/21     Page 3 of 3

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