Elon Musk will provide testimony in the SEC's probe into his purchase of Twitter

Elon Musk will provide testimony in the SEC's probe into his purchase of Twitter

important details

A US judge ruled on Saturday that Elon Musk must appear in court as part of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's probe into the company's 2022 takeover of Twitter.

Federal authorities are looking into whether Musk or anyone else committed securities fraud in 2022 when Musk started purchasing Twitter shares before the business was put up for a leveraged acquisition.

Musk has constantly attempted to subvert the authority of federal regulatory organizations, such as the National Labor Relations Board and the SEC, by refusing to take away their powers.

A US judge ruled in a court on Saturday that Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, must testify in the US Securities as well as Exchange Commission's inquiry into the company's 2022 takeover of Twitter.

The SEC is looking into whether Musk or anyone else committed securities fraud in 2022 when the billionaire started purchasing Twitter shares ahead of a leveraged takeover of the social media firm, as CNBC previously reported. was built.

After closing a $44 billion agreement to acquire Twitter in October 2022, Musk rebranded the company X.

In a ruling dated February 10, 2024, federal magistrate judge Laurel Beeler stated that despite the assertions made by Musk and his legal team that the SEC's subpoena in this case was exploitation of the billionaire, the federal financial regulator was acting "within its authority" as well as their subpoena was "definite, as well as seeks information relevant to their investigation".

Musk and federal financial authorities now have a week to decide on a time and place for his appearance.

Requests for comment from Musk, his attorney Alex Spiro, and the SEC were not immediately answered.

Musk has made a consistent effort to contest the legitimacy of removing authority from federal regulatory bodies.

For instance, he has requested that the deal he and Tesla previously agreed with the SEC be nullified by the US Supreme Court. As per the arrangement, Musk is required to get consent from a "Twitter sitter" before to sharing any tweets on his electric car enterprise. Attorneys for Musk have claimed that the deal violates his right to free expression and imposes an unlawful constraint on him.

In a different instance, the National Labor Relations Board was sued by Musk-led military contractor SpaceX after the federal agency's complaint against the business, which claimed that the rocket manufacturer had signed an open letter denouncing Musk. illegally dismissed the workers. Among other things, the letter said that Musk's "conduct in the public sphere is an ongoing cause of continued consternation and discomfort to us."

SpaceX sued the NLRB in Brownsville, Texas, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. In their complaint, SpaceX's attorneys claimed that the US Constitution is violated by the Federal Labor Board's own organizational structure. Their case, which aims to stop the NLRB's earlier complaint against SpaceX from proceeding, is identical to one filed by a former Starbucks employee against the NLRB.