A preliminary hearing in the federal fraud case against former Democratic treasurer Kinde Durkee has been delayed yet again.
The hearing date, which had been moved from early December to tomorrow at 2 p.m., has been rescheduled for the same time on Feb. 28, according to a document filed with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento.
Durkee has been accused by federal investigators and her former clients of stealing millions of dollars from the campaign and nonprofit accounts she managed. The prominent Burbank-based treasurer was arrested in September and charged with mail fraud for allegedly misappropriating $600,000 from the campaign account of Democratic Assemblyman Jose Solorio. More clients have come forward as potential victims since her arrest, including U.S. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who says $5 million was taken from her re-election committee account.
A court filing posted today said the delay was requested to give the government more time to sort through evidence collected during its investigation. Durkee, who managed hundreds of accounts, has been accused in criminal and civil court filings of frequently moving money between accounts as part of her embezzlement scheme.
"The parties stipulate that the arrest in this case occurred at a time before the investigation was completed, and that the case is complex given the number of clients of Ms. Durkee and bank accounts involved," the document reads. "The investigation has continued, a significant amount of materials have been acquired, and the government needs additional time to review, analyze and synthesize those materials."
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