Musk, SEC to face off in court today: Here's why
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is taking billionaire Elon Musk to court in San Francisco on Thursday. The SEC is trying to make him testify again about his $44 billion Twitter takeover. The agency sued Musk in October after he didn't show up for a September interview about the investigation. They want to know if Musk followed the rules when he filed paperwork and if he misled people about the deal.
Musk's previous testimony and SEC's pursuit
Musk did give the SEC some documents and talked to them on video for two half-day sessions in July. But when the SEC got new documents, they wanted to talk to him again in September, and he didn't do it. Musk's lawyers say the SEC is just harassing him and that they don't have the power to make him testify.
SEC's rejection of Musk's claims
The SEC says they do have the power to ask for more testimony as their investigation goes on. This Thursday, at 9:30am PST (11:00pm IST), a judge will listen to both sides' arguments. To win, the SEC has to show that their investigation is allowed and that the information they want from Musk is important. Legal experts think the judge will probably agree with the SEC.
Musk's conflict with SEC and Twitter acquisition's backstory
On April 4, 2022, Musk said he owned 9.2% of Twitter, but he was 11 days late in telling the SEC. At first, he said he would just be a passive investor, but then he announced plans to buy Twitter (now X) for $44 billion. After trying to back out of the deal, Musk was sued to finish it and ended up buying Twitter in October 2022.
