From listening to the interview, it seems the core issue wasn’t the money itself, but that the potential maximum sentence made fighting the case too risky. They believed the judge was biased against them, so pleading guilty felt safer than risking a possible 25 year sentence.
Discussion
Add to that though the confounding plea deal. If they had better funding and a more aggressive defense, they could have gotten a better deal and likely negotiated a situation where, notwithstanding the deal, the government wouldn’t be seeking the maximum sentence on what was plead to.
Please understand though Im talking out of my ass because I dont know what happened behind closed doors. Who the hell knows, but if they had unlimited funding that typically leads to better results in my experience.