The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking sanctions against Elon Musk after he failed to appear for scheduled testimony into its investigation of his $44 billion Twitter takeover.
“Musk has now failed to appear before the SEC twice: first in September 2023, in defiance of a lawful administrative subpoena, and last week, in defiance of a clear court order,” SEC attorney Robin Andrews said in a filing on Friday. “The Court must make clear that Musk’s gamesmanship and delay tactics must cease.”
Hours before his scheduled testimony, Musk's attorney informed the SEC the SpaceX CEO would not be able to attend because he needed to be at the launch of the Polaris Dawn mission.
The SEC has been investigating whether Musk or anyone else working with him committed securities fraud in 2022 as the Tesla CEO sold shares in his automaker and shored up a stake in Twitter, ahead of his leveraged buyout of the company now known as X.
In May, the court ordered Musk to appear for a deposition by the financial regulators regarding the Twitter deal. […]
The filing also revealed, in a footnote, that the SEC intends to ask the court to hold Musk in “civil contempt” for canceling a deposition on Sept. 10, giving the agency only a few hours notice that he would not appear. Musk’s cancellation cost the SEC time and money after it sent personnel to Los Angeles to depose him and he didn’t appear for the investigative interview, the agency said.
Musk’s deposition in the probe has been rescheduled for a date in early October at an SEC office, the filing said.
“Without further action by the Court, nothing deters Musk” from “simply failing to show up for that date,” Andrews wrote.
Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, a partner at Quinn Emanuel in New York, wrote in a response that “such drastic action would be inappropriate,” adding that the SEC and Musk had agreed rescheduling would be permissible in light of an emergency.
Additionally, Musk and his companies have “cooperated and are cooperating with the SEC in multiple other ongoing investigations,” Spiro wrote. (CNBC)
BREAKING: The SEC will sanction Elon Musk in its Twitter acquisition probe
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 20, 2024
Biden right after Elon bought Twitter:
"There's a lot of ways [to get him]" pic.twitter.com/HrHH9mwNP6
It's worth listening to what Musk previously had to say about the SEC.
NEW: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to seek sanctions against Elon Musk for failing to appear for court-ordered testimony for his Twitter takeover.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 20, 2024
The Swamp doesn't like it when they can't control what you say.
The SEC is investigating whether or not… pic.twitter.com/aNUfXAKdCQ
