Elon Musk May Be Forced By SEC To Testify In Twitter Takeover Probe: Report

There has been a long-running feud between the SEC and Elon Musk on whether he broke federal securities laws in 2022 when he bought stock in Twitter, which was renamed X.

The SEC in filing on Thursday stated that it subpoenaed Musk in May 2023 requiring him to provide testimony at the SEC’s San Francisco office.

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SpaceX CEO and tech billionaire Elon Musk could be forced to testify in an investigation into Twitter (now X) sale. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said that it is pursuing a court order compelling Musk to testify in $44 billion Twitter takeover probe, the media has reported. According to a report by news agency Reuters, the probe, which escalates a long-running feud between the SEC and the tech billionaire, concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws last year when he bought stock inthe micro-blogging site, which was renamed X, as well as statements and SEC filings he made in relation to the deal.

The SEC in filing on Thursday stated that 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 on September 15. But then two days beforehand Musk raised "several spurious objections" and told the commission that he would not appear, the SEC said, as per the Reuters report.

A hearing on the matter is tentatively slated to be heard on November 9 in San Francisco.

Among his objections was that the commssion was trying to “harass” him and his counsel needed time to review potentially relevant material contained in a biography of Musk published last month, the SEC noted. As per the filing, Musk has given the SEC documents relating to the probe and has previously provided testimony in July last year via video conference.

“SEC has already taken Mr. Musk’s testimony multiple times in this misguided investigation — enough is enough," Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, was quoted as saying, in an emailed statement.

To recall, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO finalised his $44 billion acquisition to purchase Twitter and take it private in October 2022, after a legal dispute with the former management of the social media company.