A federal court in California is enforcing a subpoena for Elon Musk to testify before the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding potential violations of federal securities laws in connection with his purchase of Twitter.
According to a court filing Saturday, the court ruled the evidence gathered is relevant and material to the SEC’s investigation and the testimony required of Musk is not unduly burdensome. The two parties were ordered to meet within one week and decide on a date and location for the testimony.
The SEC sued Musk in October as part of an investigation into his 2022 purchase of Twitter, the social media giant that he subsequently renamed X. Musk refused to attend an interview in September that was part of the probe, the SEC said. The SEC is seeking information about Musk’s purchases of Twitter stock ahead of the company’s acquisition. The Tesla CEO and co-founder refuted the grounds for the SEC’s investigation, calling it baseless and claiming it seeks irrelevant information, court filings say.
Musk also contends the subpoena exceeds the SEC’s authority because it was issued by an SEC staffer appointed by the agency’s director of enforcement, not by an officer appointed by the president, a court or the head of a federal department. The court denied this on Saturday, saying the subpoena is authorized by the Exchange Act.
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