Elon Musk Under Federal Probe For $44 Billion Takeover Deal, Says Twitter

Tesla boss Elon Musk is under a federal probe for the $44 billion Twitter takeover deal, the micro-blogging site has said.

Twitter has said Elon Musk is under a federal probe for his $44 billion takeover deal. ( Image Source :Getty )

A federal investigation is underway in connection to Tesla chief Elon Musk’s conduct in his $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter Inc, according to the release of the court filing by the social media company on Thursday. The filing, which disclosed about the investigations, didn’t mention the exact focus of the probes or anything about federal authorities conducting the probe, according to the news agency Reuters report.

In the release, Twitter said attorneys for the Tesla Inc CEO had claimed "investigative privilege" at the time of handing over documents which the latter refused.

In late September, Musk's attorneys had provided a "privilege log" identifying documents to be withheld, noted Twitter. The log cited drafts of a May 13 email to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a slide presentation to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

In July, Twitter sued the billionaire entrepreneur to force him to close the deal.

The court filing sought a Delaware judge to order Musk's attorneys to provide the documents on October 6. It was the same day when the judge paused litigation between the two sides after Musk reversed course and said he would proceed with the deal. "This game of 'hide the ball' must end," the company said in the court filing.

Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk said Twitter's court filing was a "misdirection."

In April, the SEC questioned Musk whether the disclosure of his 9 per cent Twitter stake was late and why it indicated that he intended to be a passive shareholder. Musk later responded to the disclosure to indicate he was an active investor.

In June, the SEC asked Musk in a letter whether he should have amended his public filing to reflect his intention to suspend or abandon the deal.

The FTC was probing whether Musk failed to comply with an antitrust reporting requirement as he amassed his stake in Twitter, according to The Information, a tech news site report in April.

In June, the company said the takeover deal with Musk had cleared an antitrust waiting period for review by the FTC and US Justice Department.