SEC eyes to force Musk testimony on Twitter stock acquisitions

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, seeks to force Elon Musk — CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) — to testify as it probes Musk’s acquisition of Twitter’s shares ahead of his takeover of the social media company, Bloomberg News reported.

The regulator on Thursday said that Musk did not appear to testify last month as requested, and asked a judge to force him to. The SEC is reviewing the billionaire’s statements and disclosures about the stock transactions, as per a filing by the agency in a federal court in San Francisco, the report added.

The SEC started its investigation in April 2022 and has asked thousands of documents from Musk and other parties, the regulator noted. Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX (SPACE), has already sent hundreds of documents, and testified two times in July 2022, as per the filing, which described an ongoing, non-public probe, the report noted.

The SEC added that Musk had agreed to an interview with the agency last month. But, two days before the scheduled Sept. 15 meeting, Musk raised several objections, including that San Francisco was not the appropriate place for it. Investigators suggested new dates and agreed to move the interview to Fort Worth, Texas, near where Musk now lives, but Musk refused to meet at all, the report added citing the filing.

Before buying all of Twitter, now known as X, Musk first bought a 9.2% stake in the company in March 2022. Musk disclosed the stake to the SEC in April. The agency’s regulations require most people who acquire more than 5% of a public company to disclose it within 10 days.

As Musk was increasing his holdings of Twitter stock, the agency sent a query to him in April 2022 over how he disclosed the major stake. The letter from the SEC was focused on the form which investors must file when they gather over 5% of a company, Bloomberg had reported last year.