Elon Musk is stonewalling the SEC, and now he’s getting sued

The US Securities and Change Fee (SEC) is suing Elon Musk over his refusal to testify in an investigation into Musk’s buy of Twitter inventory in 2022.

In response to the SEC’s criticism, Musk was scheduled to seem for testimony on September fifteenth after receiving a subpoena. Nonetheless, “two days earlier than his scheduled testimony, Musk abruptly notified the SEC employees that he wouldn’t seem” and apparently raised “a number of spurious objections, together with an objection to San Francisco as an applicable testimony location,” the SEC stated. The lawsuit was first reported by Bloomberg.

The SEC says it provided to conduct the testimony in Fort Value, Texas, which is nearer to the place Musk lives, in addition to on a number of dates in October and November. Regardless of that, “these good religion efforts had been met with Musk’s blanket refusal to seem for testimony.” The SEC is asking the courtroom to compel Musk to testify.

The subpoena pertains to “an ongoing nonpublic investigation” from the SEC about whether or not Musk violated securities legal guidelines together with his 2022 purchases of Twitter inventory and 2022 statements and filings concerning the corporate. In April of final yr, the SEC wrote a letter to Musk questioning his disclosures concerning the purchases.

Forward of his acquisition of Twitter final yr, Musk bought a considerable stake in Twitter, requiring him to file a disclosure with the SEC. The SEC beforehand stated that Musk “doesn’t seem” to have disclosed the purchases inside the applicable timeframe.

Musk has a protracted historical past of tussling with the SEC. Earlier this yr, a federal appeals courtroom rejected his bid to toss an SEC settlement that forces him to have some Tesla-related tweets reviewed by a lawyer.