The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to seek sanctions against Elon Musk for failing to appear for testimony related to his takeover of Twitter, now called X. According to a court filing, Musk was ordered to testify as part of the SEC’s probe into his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.
Initially, the parties agreed on a September 10 date for the testimony, but three hours before it was set to begin, Musk’s lawyer cited an urgent trip to the East Coast for the launch of the Polaris Dawn mission at SpaceX. The SEC alleges that Musk violated a court order by not seeking written consent or an order from the court to modify the date.
The SEC further claims that Musk knew about the launch in advance but did not notify them until just before the scheduled testimony. “Musk’s excuse itself smacks of gamesmanship,” the SEC stated. The agency spent thousands of dollars to fly three attorneys to Los Angeles for the cancelled testimony.
The SEC is seeking “meaningful conditional relief” if Musk does not appear at a new October testimony date. It also plans to file a sanctions motion against Musk to recoup its travel costs and seek other relief.
Musk’s lawyers argue that the court’s intervention is not necessary, as the parties have already agreed on a new testimony date. They claim that Musk is already under an order from the court to appear “absent an emergency that (Mr. Musk) did not create and could not avoid.” The filing represents just the latest development in the long-standing tension between Musk and the SEC.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/20/tech/sec-sanctions-elon-musk-testimony-twitter-probe/index.html