Epstein on number of active litigation cases

How many active litigation cases do you have now then?

For your current legal team.

So most of our enforcement work is pre-litigation.

Sure.

And so we have dozens of large class cases that attorneys are handling.

And in various stages of the process, whether that's in the data analytics process or in the settlement negotiations process.

Could you give me a general number?

How many cases are in court?

How many cases are in negotiations?

I'm sure you have that number somewhere.

We'd have to follow up with you to give you a precise number.

I can say today that it's several dozen, but we can definitely get those breakouts.

I would appreciate that.

And then I am concerned about the backlog.

And, you know, I know the commissioner and you are deeply committed to this.

You wouldn't be doing it otherwise.

And to say that maybe in a year we might be in a better position is a little concerning to me because, you know, this is a priority for all of us.

And I'm wondering if you had more resources staffing up sooner, like instead of hiring 12, 10 investigators, you hired 15.

Obviously, that backlog would reduce quicker.

Is that a fair statement?

Oh, go ahead.

One point I would make, and then I'll turn it over to the deputy commissioner, is, you know, we do have the– it's a good problem to have, but we are such a lean agency that the same folks who are doing those investigations are interviewing candidates.

And they're going to be spending a lot of the summer both full steam ahead on their cases and full steam ahead on interviewing candidates.

And they're going to keep interviewing through the rest of the year.

So the reality is that, again, new lines, it's a wonderful problem to have, but it does, there are only so many people we can onboard.

And we really designed the 181 very, OMB would not have authorized that headcount if we didn't show them in granular detail that we have the capacity to bring those folks on.

So I'm not saying, you know, we could have conversations about what additional capacity would mean in hiring, but I do just want to say that there is, there are operational limits on how many folks we can bring on.

You know, we could hire a million people tomorrow that we would not actually be able to close the backlog tomorrow.

That's right.

In terms of the resources to train people, this is the right number to be able to absorb new staff, to have them

learn and follow our procedures for investigations, and to ultimately continue delivering the high level of service that we offer workers.