BREAKING NEWS ๐จ
Judge's Motions to Quash Decisions in April 20th 2026 Hearing... lets start with the facts
Impotant Note to remember: this is a Preliminary Investigation Phase...
(Disclaimer these are my notes, the pending final transcripts will reveal and support my findings, and I expect the community to accept, scrutinize or suggest edits if anything is innacurate)
Based on the court ruling, here are the judge's decisions on each of the nine requests in FINRA's motion to quash:
FINRA DENIED (Trustee Prevails):
Request 1 - Short Interest Reporting Data:
- Court will deny the motion to quash.
- FINRA agreed this data could probably be produced
- Judge noted discussion about duration (4 years vs. shorter period) needs clarification but denied the motion
Request 2 - Trade Reporting Facility (TRF) Data:
- Court will deny the motion to quash
- Despite FINRA's claims of significant burden (25 million items), judge found it not "unduly burdensome" under Rule 45
- Trustee to bear costs of production
- Judge emphasized need for good faith meet and confer on scope, timing, and cost-shifting
Request 3 - Daily Short Sale Volume Report (Reg SHO)
- Court will deny the motion to quash
- Falls between short interest data (easier) and TRF data (more burdensome)
- Consistent with prior ruling on TRF data
GRANTED (FINRA Prevails)
Requests 6 & 7 - FINRA Investigation Records and Public Communications
- Court will grant the motion to quash
- Judge found this seeks litigation-style discovery under Federal Rules, not preliminary Rule 2004 information
- Rife with attorney-client privilege, work-product privilege, and investigative file privilege
Would provide strategic advantage at PRELIMINARY stage (Note: again emphasis on the word -> "preliminary" hence no guarantees to block CAT for later...?)
Request 8 - FINRA Electronically Stored Communications (Emails)
- Court will grant the motion to quash
- Falls on "document side" rather than "data side" of the dichotomy
- Unduly burdensome and inappropriate under Rule 2004
- Seeks litigation-style discovery rather than preliminary information
Request 9 - Order Quotations and Execution Records (CAT Data)
- Court will grant the motion to quash
- Judge found that information in Requests 1-3 effectively provides same information
- Mirrors motion to compel-style discovery rather than preliminary investigation
- Represents strategic advantage seeking under Rule 2004
There was an interesting section where the Judge then discussed CONDITIONAL/SEQUENCED items:
- Requests 4 & 5 - Monthly and Weekly OTC Summary
Report Data:
Court will deny the motion to quash (conditionally)
Judge noted these are "not necessarily critical" per trustee's own admission and proposed sequencing:
- produce Requests 1-3 first, then reassess 4-5
- if computer-generated reports: deny motion to quash
- If laborious/individualized: requires further detail to determine if burden is "undue"
- Trustee to bear costs (they seems happy to do so)
The judge ordered:
1. David Burnett to draft a proposed order reflecting the ruling for FINRA's review.
2. Good faith meet and confer on TRF data (Request 2) regarding scope, burden, timing, and cost-shifting
3. Parties to leave past disagreements behind and work cooperatively
4. One-paragraph summary of the 161-day data period requested for other Rule 2004 productions to be provided to court for clarity... My opinion is that once the judge gets this report he should have enough to not need any additional hearings and Citadel, Virtu and all others will get their answers too.
did i miss anything? comment belowโฌ๏ธ
Next i will post my observations and interesting things I saw... and in my opinion what was the turning point in the hearing today that caught FINRA completely off guard and send their counsel in panic mode, judging from the body language!
Operation Indoctrination: Current and former students of the Olympia (WA) School District sit down with us to share stories of political and social indoctrination in their classrooms. The district's school board denies that declining enrollment is due to its progressive agenda.
Fuck it Iโm giving a $10,000 watch to someone who likes and retweets and follows me . Will respond in 24 hours . Will ship u a Rolex next day on god.