SAN JUAN — A federal judge granted former Virgin Islands Port Authority Executive Director Carlton Dowe's defense team another 60 days to review discovery in his bank fraud case after his attorneys said technical problems had slowed their review of roughly 40,000 documents.
During a status conference Friday before Judge Pedro Delgado-Hernandez, prosecutors told the court they had turned over all discovery to the defense. Jennie Mariel Espada, local counsel for Dowe's lead attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo III, said the defense had received the discovery on a jump drive but ran into problems downloading it because of the sheer number of documents.
Espada asked for 60 more days so DiRuzzo could finish examining the material and determine whether Dowe would enter a plea or proceed to trial. The judge granted the request and set the next status conference for October 30.
It's the second time the defense has been granted additional time to review discovery. At a status conference on June 26, defense attorneys told the court the material was voluminous — totaling about one terabyte — and were given 60 days to review it, pushing the case to Friday's conference.
Dowe is charged with four counts of bank fraud, four counts of making false statements on loan applications, and one count of aggravated identity theft. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege he submitted fraudulent loan applications to Banco Popular de Puerto Rico between 2021 and 2023, including inflated income claims backed by fake lease agreements, to refinance his mortgages. Dowe stepped down as VIPA's executive director effective April 10, having announced his retirement in March following the federal indictment.
