SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak during a live interview with Ben Shapiro at the Combating Anti-Semitism Symposium on January 22, 2024 in Krakow, Poland.
Omar Marquez | Getty Images
A federal judge has ordered Elon Musk to testify again in the US Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation into his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, giving the regulator and the billionaire a week to agree on a date and place for the interview.
U.S. Magistrate Laurel Beeler orderedissued on Saturday evening, formalized an initial ruling it issued in December that sided with the regulator.
The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Musk in October to force the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to testify as part of an investigation into his 2022 purchase of Twitter, the social media giant it later renamed to X. Musk declined to attend an interview in September that was part Of the deal. The Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The agency is examining whether Musk followed the law when submitting the required paperwork regarding his purchases of Twitter shares, and whether his statements regarding the deal were misleading.
Musk disputed the SEC's attempt to interview him, saying it had already done so twice, and accused the regulator of harassment.
Beller rejected this argument. The SEC has the authority to issue a subpoena, which requests relevant information, she said in the ruling.
If the SEC and Musk cannot agree on a date and time for an interview, Beeler said she will listen to both sides and decide for them.
Musk's dispute with the SEC began when the regulator filed a lawsuit against him after he tweeted “financing secured” in 2018 in reference to a potential plan to take Tesla private. To settle the case, Musk agreed to have Tesla's lawyers examine his tweets about the electric car maker. The SEC sued him again in 2019 for allegedly violating that requirement.
Musk asked the US Supreme Court to review the agreement, saying it violated his constitutional right to freedom of expression.
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