US Court Rejects Greenspan’s Bid to Obtain Discovery from Tinubu, DCI Group

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has denied a request by Aaron Greenspan seeking permission to obtain limited discovery from President Bola Tinubu and DCI Group in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit involving records held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

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The court delivered the ruling on October 30, finding that Greenspan’s proposed discovery concerning alleged cyberattacks on his website was not sufficiently relevant to the underlying dispute over access to FBI and DEA records.

The development was disclosed on Saturday in a statement by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

According to the statement, the court also rejected a separate application by nonparty Karl Von Batten seeking permission to submit an amicus curiae brief, alongside Greenspan’s related request for judicial notice. It further denied Greenspan’s motion for summary judgment.

Reacting to the decision, attorney Christopher W. Carmichael said the ruling reinforced the need to keep the FOIA proceedings focused on the legal issues before the court.

“The Court’s decision makes clear that this Freedom of Information Act proceeding cannot be used to pursue discovery unrelated to the legal questions before it,” Carmichael said.

He added that the rejection of the discovery request against Tinubu and DCI Group established procedural boundaries for the case.

Attorney Oluwole Afolabi also described the decisions as important procedural developments, noting that the court had rejected Greenspan’s summary judgment application and the related request involving an amicus brief.

Despite the latest rulings, the underlying FOIA dispute remains before the court. The decision does not amount to a final determination of all the issues in the litigation.