Ariana Grande Wins Fast-Track Subpoena Approval in Hacking Case

A judge has given Ariana Grande permission to quickly issue subpoenas in an effort to uncover the identities of people accused of stealing her unreleased music.

Grande’s lawyers convinced a Los Angeles court that immediate action was necessary to track down individuals suspected of taking unreleased songs, photographs and videos before allegedly selling the material on the dark web for "significant sums of money".

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark H Epstein ruled on Wednesday that Grande does not need to follow the usual waiting period that gives defendants advance notice because the singer currently has no way of knowing who the alleged hackers are.

"The 20-day waiting period will never run because plaintiff cannot, even with reasonable diligence, determine the defendant's identity without this discovery, and therefore will never be able to serve defendants," the judge wrote in an order obtained by Rolling Stone.

Grande requested expedited discovery as part of her recently filed invasion of privacy lawsuit. In her application, she argued that acting quickly was essential because without identifying the people "hiding behind anonymous accounts across various platforms", the alleged "hacking, theft, dissemination, sales and publication of content will continue".

She also warned that waiting too long could result in "the account, subscriber, and login data needed to identify defendants will be lost".

According to Grande, the alleged theft included 45 unreleased songs she was working on that were taken and leaked during 2023 alone.