Federal government to pay millions to create database for Capitol riot evidence – media

The effort to prosecute the rioters has become an expensive one, as the federal government is now spending over $6 million to a company to compile a database of footage and documents related to the January 6 event.

The Justice Department is forking over the whopping $6.1 million to Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, which will put together videos, photos, social media posts, and other documents related to the Capitol riot in a database for the prosecution, Politico reported.

The information gathered will also be for the defense attorneys of the hundreds facing prosecution, as the evidence will eventually need to be turned over to them. Prosecutors have said this is the largest criminal probe in US history, making the timing of turning over evidence difficult. 

Deloitte Financial Advisory Services is described as a “litigation support vendor with extensive experience providing complex litigation technology services,” by prosecutors. The contract first awarded to Deloitte last month is part of a larger $1.5 billion department budget set aside for information technology litigation support spending. 

Assistant US Attorneys Nadia Moore and William Dreher wrote in the official submission for the contractor work that due to the “volume of materials,” outside help was needed in the government’s efforts. Until the database is established, numerous cases will be tied up and delayed in the court system. 

“The government is working to provide an unprecedented amount of materials in the most comprehensive and usable format to defense counsel,” Moore and Dreher said.

According to a court filing this week, there is a massive amount of data to sift through, including over a million social media posts and thousands of grand jury subpoenas. Defense attorneys for some clients have floated the idea of hiring their own contractors to help organize the data. 

Contracting data cited in a report by Politico states Deloitte could end up earning as much as $26 million for their efforts. 

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