SEC will sanction Elon Musk over missed testimony about his Twitter acquisition
The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to sanction Elon Musk for not appearing for testimony concerning his 2022 takeover of Twitter.
In a court filing Friday, the SEC said Musk failed to deliver court-ordered testimony on September 10. The agency said Musk waited until three hours before the scheduled hearing time to announce that he wouldn’t be attending, and violated a court order compelling his testimony.
On the date of the hearing, Musk was in Florida for a rocket launch by SpaceX, the rocket company he founded and serves as CEO for.
“Despite this advance knowledge, Musk did not notify the SEC of his intent to attend the launch until three hours before his testimony was to begin, and after the SEC spent thousands of dollars to fly three attorneys to Los Angeles,” the filing read.
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“Musk’s excuse itself smacks of gamesmanship,” SEC lawyer Robin Andrews wrote. “The court must make clear that Musk’s gamesmanship and delay tactics must cease.”
The hearing has been rescheduled for October 3.
The SEC investigation is into whether Musk violated securities laws during his acquisition of Twitter, now called X.
Musk has already given testimony for the SEC’s investigation twice. The third testimony was compelled by a California judge in February after Musk and the FEC couldn’t independently agree on a date or location for a third meeting.
