Elon Musk agrees to testify in SEC investigation into Twitter buybacks (1)

Elon Musk has agreed to testify in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its 2022 takeover of the social media platform once known as Twitter.

The billionaire will give a five-hour deposition after abandoning a plan to appeal a court order saying he would comply with a government subpoena, according to papers filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco. The regulator is seeking information about Musk’s purchases of Twitter shares and statements about his investments before it spent $44 billion to buy the social media platform.

It’s the latest twist in the long-running legal-bsp-bb-link> saga surrounding Musk’s buyout of Twitter for $54.20 a share. He tried to cancel the deal after it was announced, but changed his mind after losing several pre-trial arguments in a lawsuit that was intended to force him to complete the acquisition. Musk later changed the company’s name to X.

Alex Spiro, one of Musk’s lawyers, did not immediately return an email seeking comment Thursday. Musk, who also owns an electric car maker Tesla company and other companies, had already testified twice in an SEC investigation into his early Twitter buyout moves, but regulators had more questions. Records show that he agreed to one more pretrial testimony.

The SEC is seeking to determine whether Musk, the world’s third-richest man, broke the law by missing a legal deadline to disclose his initial 9.2% position on Twitter. Under U.S. securities laws, anyone who buys 5% or more of a company must disclose that interest within 10 days of the purchase.

Read more: Musk, Morgan Stanley ‘hide’ stock purchases on Twitter, lawsuit says bsp-bb-link>

Musk has frequently accused the SEC of overzealous enforcement since he agreed with the agency in 2018 to have an in-house lawyer pre-approve his social media posts about Tesla. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to uphold Musk’s challenge to the “Twitter guardianship” agreement.

The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Musk, 23-mc-80253, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

(Update on SEC probe details begins in fifth paragraph)

To contact a reporter about this story:
Jeff Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou-bsp-person> at [email protected]

Steve Stroth and Elizabeth Wasserman