Verified news update | November 1, 2026

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has rejected Aaron Greenspan’s request to obtain evidence from Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and US public affairs firm DCI Group over alleged cyberattacks on Greenspan’s website.

The October 30, 2026 ruling is a procedural setback for Greenspan’s attempt to extend the scope of his ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. However, it does not bring the underlying dispute over access to FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) records to an end.

Greenspan’s Discovery Application

Greenspan, an American transparency activist and founder of Plain Site, had asked the court in September 2026 for permission to submit four questions to Tinubu concerning alleged distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on his legal research website.

He wanted to establish whether Tinubu, the Nigerian government or individuals acting on their behalf, including DCI Group, had any involvement in the alleged cyberattacks.

Greenspan argued that the proposed questions could help identify those responsible for the attacks.

However, the court concluded that the proposed inquiry did not have a sufficient connection to the central issues in the FOIA litigation. It therefore refused to authorize the requested discovery.

Importantly, the application did not establish that Tinubu or DCI Group was responsible for the alleged cyberattacks.

Court Also Rejects Other Applications

In the October 30 decision, delivered by Judge Beryl Howell, the court also:

• Denied Greenspan's motion for summary judgment.
• Rejected non-party Karl Von Batten's application to submit an amicus curiae brief, commonly known as a friend-of-the-court submission.
• Denied Greenspan's request for judicial notice relating to the discovery application.
• Granted the FBI's cross-motion for summary judgment in part and denied it in part.

The court's decision addressed several procedural applications, but the substantive dispute over the release of government records remains unresolved.

Background: The Tinubu FOIA Litigation

The wider legal dispute dates back to 2022 and 2023, when Greenspan submitted multiple Freedom of Information Act requests to US federal agencies, including the FBI, DEA, CIA and other government departments.

The requests sought historical investigative records connected to a Chicago-based money-laundering and heroin-trafficking investigation conducted during the early 1990s.

Tinubu and Abiodun Agbele were among the individuals named in the requests.

In April 2025, a US federal court ruled that the FBI and DEA could not rely on their initial refusal to confirm or deny whether relevant records existed. The court subsequently required the agencies to process the requests and address the disclosure obligations under FOIA.

The agencies have since produced hundreds of pages of records, with significant portions withheld or redacted.

According to the latest court proceedings, the FBI and DEA have produced 399 pages of documents, while disputes over withheld information and redactions continue.

What the Latest Ruling Means

The latest decision draws a distinction between two issues: Greenspan's attempt to investigate alleged cyberattacks and his continuing effort to obtain historical government records.

The court rejected the attempt to introduce the cyberattack allegations into the existing FOIA proceedings because they were not sufficiently relevant to determining whether federal agencies had properly searched for and withheld records.

However, the ruling does not establish that all requested records have been released, nor does it resolve every outstanding question concerning the FBI and DEA files.

It is equally important to understand that rejecting the discovery application is not a judicial declaration that Tinubu has been cleared of every historical allegation connected to the separate records dispute.

The central FOIA litigation continues.

Implications for Nigeria

The case remains significant because it involves questions surrounding transparency, access to historical investigative records and the extent to which US federal agencies can withhold information under freedom-of-information laws.

For the Nigerian government, the latest ruling provides a procedural development in Tinubu's favor on the specific discovery application.

For Greenspan, the decision means that his attempt to obtain information from Tinubu and DCI Group through this particular application has been unsuccessful.

The next significant development will concern the court's continuing consideration of the FBI and DEA's handling of the requested historical records.

The distinction between procedural victories and the final resolution of substantive legal questions will remain important as the litigation progresses.

Factful24 Takeaway

A US federal court has rejected Aaron Greenspan's attempt to obtain evidence from President Bola Tinubu and DCI Group over alleged cyberattacks on his website.

But the ruling should not be mistaken for the conclusion of the wider FOIA lawsuit. The dispute over historical FBI and DEA records, including questions surrounding redactions and withheld documents, remains before the court.

The key question now is what additional information, if any, the court will require US federal agencies to disclose.

Sources and verification

1. Leadership – Original report
2. US District Court ruling – October 30, 2026
3. Premium Times – Detailed background and legal developments
4. TheCable – Additional court reporting

Editorial note: The article distinguishes the court's procedural ruling from the unresolved underlying records dispute. Allegations of cyberattacks are not presented as established facts.