The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a federal judge to sanction Elon Musk if the billionaire continues to violate a court order to testify about his acquisition of the social media platform Twitter, currently named X, in 2022.
Nowadays, the SEC is investigating whether Mr. Musk or anyone else cooperating with him is involved in committing securities fraud. In this case, it means the episode of 2022, when the chief executive officer of Tesla sold shares of his automaker and increased his stake in Twitter in anticipation of the acquisition of this social media platform.
In May, the court ordered Elon Musk to appear to testify. In this case, it implied deposition to financial regulators about the deal to acquire the specified social media platform.
SEC attorney Robin Andrews said in the Friday filing that Elon Musk has failed to appear before this agency twice already. For the first time, he ignored the relevant obligation in September last year, contrary to a legitimate administrative subpoena. Also, Elon Musk did not appear at the SEC last week. In this case, according to Robin Andrews, a clear court order was issued.
The SEC attorney asked the judge to consider sanctions if the practice of ignoring by Elon Musk will continue. Robin Andrews stated that the court must make clear that the billionaire’s gamesmanship and delay tactics must cease.
The filing also revealed, in a footnote, the SEC’s intention to ask the court to hold Elon Musk in civil contempt for canceling a deposition on September, 10. In this context, it was also noted that he notified the agency of his upcoming absence a few hours before the scheduled procedure.
As we have reported earlier, SEC Targets NFT Market OpenSea.
