September 10th was a big day for SpaceX, as it was the launch of Polaris Dawn, the first of three missions that are part of a privately funded space program. After a weather delay, it was finally scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Elon Musk didn’t want to miss the event that would lead to the first all-civilian spacewalk scheduled two days later.
But he previously met with investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission to question him about the details of his 2022 acquisition of Twitter. They are trying to look into whether the tech billionaire violated securities laws when he began buying up shares of the social media platform he has now renamed X.
Why does the SEC want to sanction Elon Musk over his Twitter acquisition?
This isn’t the first time Musk has missed an interview with SEC investigators in the case: SEC attorney Robin Andrews said in a filing on Friday that Musk failed to appear in September 2023 “contrary to a lawful administrative subpoena” and was issued a court order to appear for a deposition in May of this year.
To make matters worse, the billionaire canceled a scheduled interview in Los Angeles, California just three hours before, leading the SEC to “spend thousands of dollars to fly three lawyers to the City of Angels.”
Musk’s lawyers argue that his inability to attend was due to an “emergency situation” beyond his control, and his lawyer, Alex Spiro, wrote in his filing that “there is no reason to believe that such an emergency will occur again.”
But the SEC said SpaceX’s excuse “smacks of manipulation.” Two days before the launch, the private space company had already announced it was targeting a launch on Tuesday morning. “As the company’s chief technology officer, Mr. Musk must have already known at that time that SpaceX was targeting a launch on the morning of his SEC testimony,” the SEC filing said.
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“Despite advance knowledge, Mr. Musk did not notify the SEC of his intention to attend the launch until three hours before his testimony was to begin,” the complaint continues. Now that Musk has canceled two interviews, the SEC says, “the Court must make it clear that Mr. Musk’s maneuvering and delaying tactics must end.”
The SEC rescheduled the interview for October 3, but argues that there is nothing to stop Musk from failing to show up for the interview again and that it should sanction him.