The second largest Ponzi scheme in Minnesota history will go to trial in federal court this week.  Although most people have heard of Tom Petters and the nearly $3.7 billion fraud he perpetuated, the $195 million in fraud that Trevor Cook was involved in seems a bit paltry. 

Of interest, however, is the amount of computer data the government went through to litigate this case.  According to the StarTribune, more than 10 terabytes was seized to create more than 500 exhibits.  So, how much is 10 terabytes exactly?  I could tell you that one terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes; and one gigabyte is 1,000 megabyte; and you’d be asleep or moving on to something else.  Here, instead, is a handy infographic showing you that the government went through the equivalent of approximately 45 million books worth of data to create the exhibits.

When the government takes you to trial, they have nearly unlimited resources.  How much would it cost your defense team to do the same?