American Oversight Files Emergency Motion Seeking Depositions, Penalties from Cyber Ninjas and Doug Logan

American Oversight on Monday filed an emergency motion asking an Arizona court to compel election “audit” contractor Cyber Ninjas and its chief executive, Doug Logan, to answer questions under oath regarding the failure to release public records from the inquiry.

The motion also asks the court to impose a penalty of $1,000 for Logan’s failure to appear at a scheduled deposition last Wednesday, and comes amid increasing concerns that Logan and Cyber Ninjas may be failing to preserve records from the partisan review of the 2020 election ballots cast in Maricopa County. The Arizona Senate is legally obligated to preserve records from the “audit,” including those held by its contractor, Cyber Ninjas. Arizona courts have repeatedly ruled that relevant documents in the custody of Cyber Ninjas are public records that must be turned over to the Senate for release under the state’s open records law.

According to recent records released to the Associated Press, Logan texted Arizona Senate President Karen Fann on Jan. 3 that he planned to “liquidat[e] all of the Cyber Ninjas assets.” Logan further told Fann that Cyber Ninjas has no intention of satisfying its court-ordered obligations to produce public records but instead will “end up defaulting on the public records cases,” referring to the lawsuits filed by American Oversight and the Arizona Republic. As American Oversight noted in its filing today, following these communications from Logan, the Senate apparently took no steps to ensure the preservation of records. 

“After a year of false fraud claims, misinformation, and a thoroughly discredited ‘audit,’ Cyber Ninjas and Doug Logan are now scrambling to make sure the public doesn’t learn the facts about what really happened,” said Melanie Sloan, senior adviser at American Oversight. “We are concerned that Cyber Ninjas could misplace or destroy key documents detailing the planning, funding, and execution of their election review, and that’s why we need clear answers, under oath, before any records are lost.” 

Today’s emergency motion is the third filing by American Oversight in recent days seeking information from Cyber Ninjas regarding the election investigation and the company’s failure to turn over records. 

On Sunday, American Oversight served Cyber Ninjas with a deposition notice requiring the company to designate someone knowledgeable about the documents in question to testify under oath on Jan. 27. 

On Friday, American Oversight had filed an application for entry of a default judgment against Cyber Ninjas. On Dec. 16, the court granted American Oversight’s motion to add Cyber Ninjas to our ongoing lawsuit seeking “audit” records from the Arizona Senate. Cyber Ninjas had until last Thursday, Jan. 6, to respond to that lawsuit but failed to do so. The company now has a final deadline of Jan. 17 to file an answer or a response pleading. 

Today’s emergency motion is available here, and more information about American Oversight’s investigation of the Arizona election review is available here.