Elon Musk Ordered to Testify Again Over Twitter Purchase
According to Reuters, a federal judge has ordered Elon Musk to testify once again as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues its investigation of Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. The court has given Musk and the SEC one week to come up with a date and location for both sides to meet. If no agreement is reached, the judge will step in to set a date and time for the interview.
The SEC sued Musk last October in an attempt to force him to testify about his purchase of Twitter in 2022. Musk, who famously renamed Twitter “X,” failed to show up for a scheduled meeting with the SEC in September related to the agency’s probe of the transaction. As Twitter was a publicly-traded company before Musk took it private, any deep dive into the transaction by the government would start with an SEC investigation. The question at hand is whether Musk followed all legal requirements when filling out the paperwork for his purchase of Twitter or included misleading statements.
Musk accused the SEC of harassment as he attempted to prevent them from interviewing him again about the Twitter acquisition. He complained that they had already spoken with him twice. However, Judge Beeler said that the SEC does have authority to subpoena relevant information from Musk.
This isn’t the first time that Musk and the SEC have clashed. In 2018, Musk sent out a tweet stating that he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” This caused Tesla’s shares to soar 11% that day, but no deal was ever announced. As a result, Musk and Tesla agreed to a settlement with the SEC which involved both parties paying fines and Musk stepping down as Tesla chairman while retaining his CEO position. The settlement also required that any tweet from Musk containing material information about Tesla had to be approved by the SEC in advance.
It’s clear that Elon Musk’s business dealings continue to draw attention from regulatory authorities, and this latest dispute over his purchase of Twitter is another chapter in this ongoing saga. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story!
