Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., arrives at court during the SolarCity trial in Wilmington, Del., on July 13, 2021. A San Francisco federal judge signaled that Elon Musk should testify about his purchase of Twitter Inc. stock ahead of his $44 billion buyout of the company last year as part of an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg)
A San Francisco federal judge signaled that Elon Musk should testify about his purchase of Twitter Inc. stock ahead of his $44 billion buyout of the company last year as part of an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Despite the billionaire’s complaint that the agency was harassing him, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler on Thursday asked the two parties to work out an agreement on logistics themselves. If they don’t, she said she would side with the SEC in forcing Musk to testify over share purchases of Twitter, now known as X Corp.
The agency said in October that Musk refused to appear for testimony in September or negotiate another date after previously cooperating.
The SEC is seeking information about Musk’s 2022 purchases of Twitter stock ahead of the acquisition and statements he made about his investments. Last year, the SEC sent Musk a letter asking for information about the delayed disclosure of his Twitter stake, which he reported a week late.
The agency began its investigation in April 2022 and has received thousands of documents, including hundreds from Musk, according to court filings. Musk previously testified twice in July 2022, the SEC said. In his objection to testifying again, Musk cited his two prior interviews for the investigation and “harassment” by the SEC, according to the filing.
The world’s richest person, who has a history of challenging the authority of government regulators, in November lost a bid to stop the Federal Trade Commission from continuing to oversee X Corp.’s handling of private user data. In that case too he alleged harassment.
Musk asked the US Supreme Court on Dec. 7 to consider invalidating an agreement with the SEC to have his social media posts about Tesla Inc. screened in advance. Musk has been battling with the the regulator since he tweeted in 2018 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private, sending shares of the electric-car maker surging before he abandoned the plan.
The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Musk, 23-mc-80253, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
