Securities and Exchange Commission v. Wahi

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 10 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE CASE NO. 2:22-cv-01009-TL COMMISSION, ORDER REQUESTING Plaintiff, 12 v. SUPPLEMENTAL STATEMENT FROM PROPOSED AMICI 13 ISHAN WAHI et al, 14 Defendants.

This matter comes before the Court sua sponte following the filing of motions for leave to file amicus curiae briefs by Paradigm Operations LP (Dkt. No. 67) and Coinbase, Inc. (Dkt.

No. 78).

Courts have broad discretion to permit or prohibit amicus participation. Hoptowit v. Ray, 682 F.2d 1237, 1260 (9th Cir. 1982), overruled on other grounds by Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 21 (1995); accord United States v. Phan, No. CR18-86, 2018 WL 11393436, at *1 (W.D.

Wash. July 25, 2018) (explaining that a court may “grant or refuse leave according [to whether] it deems the proffered information timely, useful, or otherwise” (quotation omitted)). Courts may consider amicus briefs from non-parties “concerning legal issues that have potential ramifications beyond the parties directly involved or if the amicus has unique information or perspective that can help the court beyond the help that the lawyers for the parties are able to provide.” Beldock v. Microsoft Corp., No. C22-1082, 2022 WL 17551138, at *1 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 9, 2022) (citing additional cases). But amicus briefs provide unique or helpful information only to the extent that they are not duplicative of arguments made by the Parties or other amici.

7 Therefore, before the Court will consider the motions, the Court DIRECTS Paradigm Operations LP and Coinbase, Inc. to file a supplemental statement certifying that their submissions are not duplicative of the briefs already filed in this case by Defendants or other proposed amici by no later than March 23, 2023. If the submissions are duplicative in any way, the amici can withdraw and revise their motions and proposed briefs as appropriate.

12 Dated this 17th day of March 2023.

A Tana Lin United States District Judge