Federal Judge Denies Crypto Theft Victim’s Motion for Additional Apple Data in Sparrow App Crypto Theft Lawsuit

On Thursday, April 16, 2026, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denied a motion to enlarge discovery in the case of Jimmy Ramirez, a victim of cryptocurrency theft, against Apple. The ruling, presided over by Judge Donna Phillips Currault, maintained the limitations on expedited discovery, preventing Ramirez from obtaining additional identifying information beyond what Apple had already provided.

The case originated from a cryptocurrency theft Ramirez experienced through a fraudulent “copycat” of the Sparrow Multi-Sig app, which he downloaded from the Apple App Store. Following the incident, Ramirez sought expedited discovery from Apple to identify the alleged app developer, Durmaz Tanaydin.

An initial court order on August 13, 2025, authorized expedited discovery, limited to identifying information necessary for serving the defendant. Apple complied by producing Tanaydin’s name, physical address, email address, and phone number. Dissatisfied, Ramirez then filed a motion to expand the discovery order, seeking the identity of Apple’s third-party vendor used for developer verification and Tanaydin’s government-issued identification number, specifically a social security number. Apple’s policy requires developers to provide government identification numbers through these third-party vendors.

The court denied Ramirez’s motion, citing his failure to establish “good cause” for the expanded discovery. Judge Currault noted that Ramirez did not adequately explain why the already-provided identifying information was insufficient for serving process. The court also found that Ramirez’s stated purpose of merely “verifying” the existing information was not a sufficient justification for the additional requests.
Furthermore, the court emphasized that government-issued identification, such as a Social Security number, has been consistently excluded as overbroad in similar cryptocurrency theft cases. The court viewed the request for the vendor’s identity as an indirect attempt to obtain the social security number, which it deemed improper.

The court’s decision resulted in the motion to enlarge the discovery order being denied without prejudice. This ruling restricts Ramirez’s access to further identifying information, upholding the initial limitation to data necessary for serving process.

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