A San Francisco judge ordered Elon Musk, owner of of the tycoon. A transaction that the agency suspects may have involved securities fraud.
The billionaire testified twice before the SEC in July of that year. But the agency, which has since received “thousands of new documents,” including some written by Musk, wants to question him again. Although his lawyer agreed for the Tesla co-founder to testify as part of the investigation on September 15, he finally refused to appear, so the SEC ended up suing him before a court in the Northern District of California.
The court has given Musk and the SEC a week to agree on a date and location for the interview. Likewise, the judge adds that, if the agreement does not occur, they may present a joint letter “with their respective positions” on the appointment.
Specifically, the agency is seeking information about the purchases of Twitter shares that Musk ordered before the acquisition of the company, for which he paid $44 billion, and the statements he made about his investments. To get to the bottom of the matter, the SEC sent Musk a letter in 2022 requesting information about the delayed disclosure of his Twitter involvement, which he reported a week late.
Tesla’s CEO for his part refutes the foundations of the investigation. He calls the allegations unfounded and claims the agency is seeking irrelevant information. Furthermore, he maintains that the subpoena exceeds the SEC’s authority because it was issued by an agency staff member designated by the chief compliance officer and not by an official appointed by the president, a court, or the head of a federal department. The court denied this on Saturday, arguing that the subpoena is authorized by the Exchange Act, which primarily regulates securities transactions in the secondary market.
