A U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to file another joint status report by August 7, 2025, regarding the release of unredacted records related to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a heroin trafficking network in the early 1990s.
This follows a prior ruling on April 8, 2025, by Judge Beryl Howell, who mandated that the agencies comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by Aaron Greenspan, founder of the transparency platform PlainSite.
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The court’s directive stems from a lawsuit initiated by Greenspan in June 2023, challenging the agencies’ use of “Glomar responses” to neither confirm nor deny the existence of records.
The requests sought documents concerning a Chicago-based heroin trafficking ring, with Tinubu and others, including Abiodun Agbele, Mueez Akande, and Lee Andrew Edwards, named as subjects.
Judge Howell ruled that the FBI and DEA’s Glomar responses were “neither logical nor plausible,” citing prior official acknowledgments of Tinubu’s investigation and public interest outweighing privacy concerns.
Court documents reference a 1993 case where Tinubu forfeited $460,000 to U.S. authorities, funds allegedly linked to narcotics trafficking proceeds.
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An affidavit by IRS Special Agent Kevin Moss detailed Tinubu’s connection to financial transactions tied to the drug ring.
On May 1, 2025, the agencies were ordered to submit a schedule for releasing unredacted records by July 31, 2025, but Greenspan opposed their request for a 90-day extension, pushing for faster disclosure.
The latest court order requires the FBI and DEA to provide an updated status report by August 7, 2025, as the agencies continue processing non-exempt records. The CIA, however, was exempted from releasing records, as its Glomar response was upheld.
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