Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Oct 5 (Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over his $44 billion takeover of social media giant Twitter, according to a Thursday court filing in which the agency sought to compel Musk to testify.
The investigation concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws in 2022 when he bought stock in Twitter, which Musk renamed X, as well as statements and SEC filings he made in relation to the deal.
The SEC said it subpoenaed Musk in May 2023 requiring him to provide testimony at the SEC’s San Francisco office, and that Musk had agreed to appear last month. But then two days beforehand Musk raised “several spurious objections” and told the SEC he would not appear, the SEC said. Musk also refused to SEC proposals to conduct the deposition in Texas in October or November.
Among his objections was that the SEC was trying to “harass” him and that his counsel needed time to review potentially relevant material contained in a biography of Musk published last month, the SEC said.
“The SEC has already taken Mr. Musk’s testimony multiple times in this misguided investigation – enough is enough,” said a statement from Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment beyond the public filings.
Musk acquired Twitter after initially building a large minority stake in the social media platform, which he first disclosed in April 2022. Musk was late with the filing and initially indicated that he planned to be a passive stakeholder.
Days later, Musk accepted and then turned down a board seat at Twitter. In late April, he announced plans to buy the company for $44 billion but subsequently tried to get out of the deal, alleging Twitter was not disclosing the full extent of bot activity on its platform.
Faced with a trial that sought to compel him to complete the deal, Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter in late October 2022.
In a statement, the SEC said it was seeking “Musk’s testimony to obtain information not already in the SEC’s possession that is relevant to its legitimate and lawful investigation.”
Thursday’s filing escalates a long-running feud between Musk and the SEC that dates back to Musk’s 2018 tweet that he planned to take his electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O) private and had funding secured. Since then, Musk has repeatedly denigrated the SEC, which has opened multiple probes into Musk over the years.
“A comprehensive overhaul of these agencies is sorely needed, along with a commission to take punitive action against those individuals who have abused their regulatory power for personal and political gains,” Musk said in a post on X.
Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Chris Prentice in New York; Michelle Price in Washington; and Sheila Dang in Austin; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Lisa Shumaker
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