The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Friday it intends to seek sanctions against Elon Musk in its ongoing Twitter investigation after the SEC said Musk failed to appear for court-ordered testimony in its investigation into the company’s $44 billion acquisition of Company X.
The SEC wrote in a court filing on Friday that its motion for sanctions seeks an order showing why Musk should not be held in civil contempt. The SEC said Musk did not inform the court that he would not be appearing until just three hours before his scheduled testimony on September 10.
For 11 months, the SEC has been investigating Tesla founder Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and has sought his testimony. According to an October 2023 SEC filing, the SEC is investigating possible violations of U.S. securities laws surrounding the acquisition. That same month, the SEC sued Musk to compel him to testify after he refused to appear for an interview in September. Musk has said the SEC is trying to “harass” him through an unjust investigation. Since reaching a settlement with the SEC in 2018, Musk has frequently accused the SEC of unfair enforcement by having in-house counsel pre-approve social media posts about Tesla.
Related article: Tether outperforms BlackRock in 2023
The billionaire eventually agreed to attend and testify, but Musk did not attend. Instead of attending the testimony, Elon Musk defied the SEC and traveled to Cape Canaveral, Florida, that day to oversee the launch of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission. Musk’s lawyers called the SEC’s sanctions “extreme” and unnecessary. His testimony has already been rescheduled for October 3, according to the lawyers.
The SEC has not yet commented on the sanctions.