The SEC’s ongoing inquiry into possible insider trading in shares of Restoration Hardware has raised some interesting issues of spousal immunity. On Friday, a court ruled that Lena Yan may not avoid testifying before the SEC in its ongoing investigation into possible insider trading by her husband, Daniel Hew.

On June 4, the SEC announced that it had filed a subpoena enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Yan, an analyst in the finance department at Restoration Hardware, Inc. seeking to compel her testimony pursuant to a subpoena. Yan had previously appeared for testimony on May 6, 2009, but refused to answer all substantive questions by invoking two marital-based privileges.

Last week, Yan argued to Judge William Alsup that she should not be forced to give her own testimony in the matter based on her “spousal testimonial privilege.” The Mercury News reports that Yan argued that

“I do not want anything that I say to be used against my husband in any way,” she stated, concerned that the SEC’s attorneys “may have already concluded that my husband is ‘guilty’ of insider trading.” Furthermore, the investigation “has put a significant amount of strain on my marriage, both emotionally and financially, and I do not want to create further stress in our marriage.”

The SEC responded that there could be “staggering” potential ramifications if such a privilege existed in its investigations, and that, in any case, both spouses generally need to maintain the privilege in order for either to claim it. Judge Alsup reportedly ruled for the SEC, and gave Yan 15 business days to show up at the SEC’s San Francisco headquarters to give sworn testimony.