This is a follow-up to the already existing investigation regarding the acquisition of Twitter by the Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in 2022.
“Elon Musk must testify in the probe by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in regards to his 2022 Twitter acquisition”, says a Federal Judge on Saturday.
The reason for the investigation by the SEC is to verify if Elon or anyone else connected to the transaction committed securities fraud before the takeover.
Elon Musk had been buying up Twitter stocks, which led to the billionaire having a huge stake in the company, ultimately closing the Twitter acquisition at a staggering $44 billion.
“Although Elon Musk and his legal team argued that the SEC’s subpoena in this matter amounted to harassing the Tesla CEO, the SEC is well within their authority and its subpoena is definite. The SEC would require relevant information to proceed into its investigation of the fraud”, says Federal Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in the order dated February 10, 2024.
At the writing of this post, both the SEC and Elon Musk have less than a week to set a date and place for his testimony on the case.
This would mark the latest entry into the feud between the billionaire and the United States financial regulatory agencies.