Nearly a year after pleading not guilty to 28 counts of financial crimes, former Rep. TJ Cox, a Fresno Democrat, is still several months out from appearing in court for the first time.
Last week the status conference, which was originally scheduled for July 12, has now been moved to Nov. 8.
Driving the news: The agreement to move back the case management conference comes after Cox and his attorney – Mark Coleman – requested more time to review the charges and evidence.
- According to the filing, Coleman has made substantial progress reviewing the case so far but needs more time to review the evidence given the massive amount of evidence.
- Such evidence includes hundreds of thousands of pages of records and “large amounts of digital evidence.”
The backstory: Cox was arrested on Aug. 16, 2022 after a federal grand jury indicted him for multiple financial crimes dating back to his work as the head of a local community development firm before he was elected to Congress in 2018, where he served one term in office.
- He was charged with 15 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, one count of financial institution fraud and one count of campaign contribution fraud.
- Cox is accused of illicitly obtaining over $1.7 million in diverted client payments and company loans and investments that he solicited and stole from 2013 to 2018 with his company Central Valley New Market Tax Credits.
- The indictment also accuses him of fraudulently securing a $1.5 million loan for the Central Valley Community Sports Foundation – the operator of Fresno’s Granite Park – when he served as treasurer. Cox fabricated a board resolution from his company showing that the board guaranteed the $1.5 million loan, even though no such meeting took place, allegedly.
- Cox’s 2018 Congressional campaign also took a hit in the indictment as he allegedly funneled over $25,000 to the campaign from straw donors. He is accused of taking $20,000 from California Customs Processing – another company of his – to deposit in a family member’s bank account. The family members then made the maximum $5,400 contributions to his campaign.
- After he was released on bail, Cox spoke to the media in front of the Fresno County Jail last August, saying that the indictment was politically-motivated.
