Elon Musk has been in a legal battle with the SEC since his Twitter takeover. Now called X, Musk paid $44 billion to acquire the platform in October 2022. The SEC is currently forcing Musk to testify in the acquisition case. The SEC has alleged that Musk broke a number of federal securities laws at the time of acquiring the social media platform.
The SEC is doubtful about Elon filing all the necessary paperwork to disclose how much share he had. It was first reported that Musk was a minority stakeholder with no plans to acquire the platform. It was also reported that he would remain a passive stakeholder. However, he claimed most of the minor stake in X and eventually acquired the platform altogether.
Musk’s deal with X, then Twitter, hit rock bottom in mid-2022. He accused the platform of not being very open about the details of bot activity. Meaning, some of the activity was inorganic, but the management was opening up about it to state how much it could be.
Elon last agreed to appear for a hearing on September 15, 2023, only to cancel that appearance by raising several spurious objections. He then told the Commission that he would not appear.
He was also heard saying that there were active attempts by the SEC to harass him and his counsel, further seeking time to review the material they had obtained in his biography. He provided testimony in June 2022 through a video conference. Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, has said that enough is enough.
That concluded the statement, which reads that the SEC has already taken his testimony multiple times. Alex has also called the ongoing investigation misguided.
The SEC has justified its stance by saying that additional testimonies are imperative to gather those pieces of information that are crucial to the investigation, but the Commission is not in possession of them.
It all started when Elon Musk highlighted his plans to take Tesla private by raising enough funds. This was done in 2018 on X, igniting multiple inquiries by the SEC. Musk had said in the post that a comprehensive overhaul was needed, especially for those who have abused their power for political and personal gains.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk not appearing in the September testimony has drawn some attention. Howard Fischer from Moses & Singer, a law firm, has called it extraordinary. Howard has said they have never heard of a public company senior executive not showing up.
Legal battles for Elon Musk are only growing with this. He is also the subject of the Justice Department’s lawsuit. The Department is investigating the self-driving claims of Tesla. They are digging past that by reviewing his perks and claims pertaining to the driving range of the vehicle.
Source: https://www.cryptonewsz.com/musk-vs-sec-feud-over-twitter-acquisition-continues/