I just got off the phone with someone who attended RH’s discovery hearing this morning. At their request, I will not mention them by name, but I can’t possibly thank them enough for the incredibly valuable information they were able to provide. For future reference, the courthouse staff took everyone’s devices away except for the lawyers, so nobody could record anything if they wanted to. For background, it’s incredibly unusual for anyone besides attorneys and the judge to be at discovery hearings. It’s rare that the parties themselves are there. Those types of hearings are boring af, and most of the ones I’ve seen or been part of consist of attorneys complaining about stuff while the judge tries to make the children stop fighting. The average citizen takes zero interest in them. I’m sure seeing even one person watching the hearing was a surprise to everyone there, but I’m very grateful for the info. There was some conversation about #HEX, #PLS, and #PLSX and whether or not they will be represented. The SEC seemed to acknowledge that those are not actual entities and simply code. I’m not sure how that issue will get resolved, but I assume we’ll learn more as we see this case move along. I’m not sure what good it would do to have an attorney represent code, since there’s no method of effectively communicating with or advising a client that doesn’t actually exist. It’s also hard to get non-existent clients to sign retainer agreements that are required by the state bar, or to pay their bills. So this idea creates a whole host of real world problems. Not unexpectedly, the SEC is looking for discovery on pretty much every issue right now and wants basically unfettered access to information about RH, his communications, his devs, influencers in the community, etc. The judge apparently wasn’t willing to entertain those types of blanket requests, which is the right call. Discovery is not a fishing expedition (a term used often by courts), and overbroad requests routinely get narrowed or denied altogether. I expect that to be the case here based on what I heard. She ordered the parties to discuss and come up with a more limited, targeted discovery plan and set a hearing for May 2 (which the court indicated may be telephonic, so we may be able to all listen in). It sounds like the court thought the SEC’s requests were too broad (this makes sense) and also noted that 19 months or so have passed since the SEC’s service of its subpoena. Not following up or trying to enforce something you served 19 months earlier doesn’t scream urgency, and from what I understood from my source, that’s how the court saw it as well. In a pretty cool move, my source also stopped and chatted with RH’s attorneys after the hearing, and said that RH’s lawyers were supremely confident in RH’s position, not just with respect to this hearing, but with respect to their ability to prevail against the SEC. That’s actually a pretty remarkable thing for attorneys to just tell someone outright, unless they’re talking to a journalist or some other media figure and they want to get that message out to the people. Maybe that was the case here. Who knows? But it’s certainly nice to hear that directly from RH’s team. My source also said that RH’s lawyers told them that it would be great to have more people show up to support RH during upcoming hearings. So remember this for the October 24 oral argument, which will be the biggest event of this case so far. If you’re anywhere near NYC and can make it, it looks like RH’s attorneys think a packed courtroom might help send a message. Again, many, many thanks for the info!

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From nuclearherbs on X