The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday it is seeking sanctions against Elon Musk for failing to testify in an ongoing investigation into the company’s $44 billion acquisition of X, the platform known as Twitter. Musk was scheduled to testify on Sept. 10 but pulled out three hours before, the SEC said.
“The Court must make it clear that Musk’s maneuvering and delaying tactics must end,” the SEC said in the filing.
The SEC also said it plans to seek an order showing why Musk was held in civil contempt for his court-ordered testimony and to have him reimburse travel expenses related to the cancellation.
In a statement responding to the motion, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said it was a “drastic step” by the SEC and was “inappropriate” for several reasons, including that Musk’s testimony had already been rescheduled for October 3rd.
Spiro also noted that the SEC had previously agreed to reschedule Musk’s testimony in the case of an emergency, and that was the case with his canceled Sept. 10 testimony. Musk, who had been on the East Coast for SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission the previous day, was unable to return to Los Angeles on time. (Musk continues to serve as head of SpaceX and Tesla in addition to being the owner of X.)
The SEC felt that this was not a legitimate step because his lawyers had only notified the committee a few hours before they were scheduled to testify.
“Mr. Musk’s excuses themselves reek of manipulation,” the SEC said in the filing.
This isn’t the first time the SEC has tried to punish Musk: Notably, in 2018, Musk agreed to resign and pay a $20 million fine after tweeting that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share.