Musk Refuses SEC’s Failure To Disclose Probe

Elon Musk, owner of the social network X, acquired Twitter shares worth about $3 billion before he took it over, renamed it, and lost a good chunk of its advertisers. Variety reports that he was scheduled to testify on Sept. 15 about his acquisition of more than five percent of the company, as required by law. On Sept. 13 he notified the SEC that he wouldn’t appear.

On October 5 the SEC sued Musk in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in an attempt to force him to testify. According to the suit, “Musk tried to justify his refusal to comply with the subpoena by raising, for the first time, several spurious objections, including an objection to San Francisco as an appropriate testimony location.” X is headquartered in San Francisco.

Musk’s attorney issued a statement saying his client has already appeared before the agency many times, called the investigation misguided, and said “Enough is enough.”

Musk’s takeover has spurred several federal lawsuits and investigations. The FTC has been investigating whether X has resources sufficient to protect users’ privacy after many layoffs as ad revenues dwindled and the resignations of senior executives responsible for privacy and security. Former Twitter shareholders have sued Musk for fraud in a case that also cites his failure to disclose his stake in the company.

Musk first offered $44 billion for Twitter in April 2022, tried to back out of the deal in July, then completed his purchase last October. He and his CEO have been trying to bring advertisers back, but X’s content moderation policies are an issue.