Elon Musk.
Chesnot via Getty Images
The SEC is investigating Elon Musk’s initial investment in Twitter and his eventual takeover.The government agency says Musk has failed to sit for an interview regarding the case.Musk had agreed to a late September interview. Now he’s refusing to do so with “spurious” claims.
Elon Musk’s investment in Twitter and his eventual $44 billion acquisition of the platform now called X is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, with whom Musk now refuses to sit for an interview.
The SEC on Thursday asked a California federal court to force Musk, who acquired Twitter, or X, just under a year ago, to comply with a May subpoena asking him to sit for testimony. The filing revealed what the agency said has been “an ongoing nonpublic investigation by the SEC regarding whether, among other things, Musk violated various provisions of the federal securities laws” with his initial secret collection of Twitter stock in early 2022 and his later purchase of the company.
Although Musk previously gave the SEC a half-day of testimony in July of 2022, the agency said it is requesting he submit to further questioning because of the huge amount of additional information it’s received this year. The SEC has “thousands of new documents from various parties as part of its investigation, including hundreds of new documents produced by Musk.”
“The SEC has not yet had an opportunity to question Musk about those documents and other substantial information it has obtained in its investigation since July 27, 2022,” the agency said in its filing.
After months of back and forth with Musk’s lawyer, who the SEC claims never objected to Musk sitting for another interview, the Tesla billionaire agreed to be questioned on Sept. 15 in San Francisco. He did not appear for testimony.
“Instead, two days before his scheduled testimony, Musk abruptly notified the SEC staff that he would not appear. Musk attempted to justify his refusal to comply with the subpoena by raising, for the first time, several spurious objections, including an objection to San Francisco as an appropriate testimony location.”
Other of Musk’s objections included that the SEC was attempting to “harass” him and that his biography, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, was being published close to the date of his scheduled testimony and his lawyers needed “time to review” material in the book.
Although the SEC attempted to choose another date and location to interview Musk, he shifted to a “blanket refusal to appear for testimony,” according to the agency.
Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said: “The SEC has already taken Mr. Musk’s testimony multiple times in this misguided investigation — enough is enough.”
It is now asking the court to force Musk to comply and sit for an interview.
A lawyer for Musk and a representative of Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.