The billionaire was scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles on Sept. 10 as part of an ongoing investigation looking into whether Musk complied with legal requirements when disclosing his purchase of Twitter shares ahead of his 2022 acquisition of the social media platform for $44 billion.
Elon Musk faces possible sanctions from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after failing to appear for court-ordered testimony regarding his acquisition of Twitter.
The billionaire was scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles on Sept. 10 as part of an ongoing investigation looking into whether Musk complied with legal requirements when disclosing his purchase of Twitter shares ahead of his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform in 2022. The SEC is also looking to examine whether Musk made any misleading statements during the acquisition process.
Just three hours before his scheduled court appearance, Musk informed the SEC that he would not attend the hearing, choosing instead to oversee the launch of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn spacecraft. The SEC offered to reschedule Musk’s testimony for the following day, but his lawyers declined, agreeing only to set a trial date for October.
The SEC is now asking the court to impose “meaningful conditional relief” if Musk fails to appear in court next month, and has indicated it plans to file for sanctions to recover costs, including travel expenses for the three lawyers who have already flown to Los Angeles.
This latest controversy isn’t Musk’s first time at odds with the SEC: In 2018, he was forced to step down as Tesla’s chairman and pay a $40 million fine following tweets that the SEC deemed manipulated the company’s stock price.
In recent years, the department has also been investigating Musk over claims about Tesla’s self-driving technology and reports that the company used money to build a “glass house” for Musk’s personal use.