SEC Wants to Force Elon Musk to Testify in Twitter Takeover Investigation

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission is suing Elon Musk to compel him to testify as part of the investigation into his takeover of Twitter. 

On Thursday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit to force Elon Musk to testify in a probe into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter (now X). 

According to a court filing, the SEC is trying to force the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, to testify in the investigation concerning his acquisition of Twitter. 

SEC Investigates Musk’s 2022 Twitter Takeover

The agency’s probe concerns Musk’s alleged 2022 contravention of federal securities law after the tycoon bought stock in the social media company and filings and statements made to the SEC regarding the takeover. 

In an announcement, the SEC said:

“According to the SEC staff’s filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the testimony subpoena to Musk relates to an ongoing investigation by the SEC regarding, among other things, potential violations of various provisions of the federal securities laws in connection with (a) Musk’s 2022 purchases of Twitter, Inc. (“Twitter”) stock, and (b) Musk’s 2022 statements and SEC filings relating to Twitter. 

According to the filing, the SEC seeks Musk’s testimony to obtain information not already in the SEC’s possession that is relevant to its legitimate and lawful investigation.” 

The securities agency further said that Musk did not appear to testify on September 15 despite being required to do so by the investigative subpoena. Reuters reports that Musk was set to appear, but two days before, he raised “several spurious objections” and informed the SEC that he would not appear.

“According to the filing, Musk failed to appear for testimony as required by the investigative subpoena served by the SEC, despite: (1) agreeing to appear for testimony on a mutually agreed upon date in September 2023; (2) having been served with a subpoena in May 2023 requiring his appearance for testimony in the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office on that mutually agreed upon date; and (3) raising no objection to the subpoena from May 2023 until two days before his scheduled testimony date in September 2023, when Musk notified the SEC that he would not appear. According to the filing, Musk attempted to justify his refusal to comply with the subpoena by raising, for the first time, several spurious objections.”

X Approved to Offer Crypto Payments

Twitter, which Elon Musk recently rebranded as “X,” received the Rhode Island Currency Transmission License, allowing it to offer crypto payments and trading services.

The license enables X to provide 400 million users across the world access to crypto trading and payments. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.