The billionaire is suspected of «fraud» with shares on the eve of the acquisition of Twitter, which could potentially earn him about $150 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is continuing its investigation into Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter for $44 billion — Investigators are determining whether the billionaire violated federal securities laws in 2022 when he acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter long before the takeover. The regulator requires that persons who acquire more than 5% of a public company’s shares disclose the information within 10 days, but the billionaire did not do so. This potentially «intentional» delay brought the billionaire $156 million and led to a class action lawsuit from former Twitter shareholders.
Musk tried in every way to avoid testifying, among other things, stating that all information can be found in his biographyissued by Walter Isaacson. Eventually, the SEC filed a lawsuit, which preliminarily ruled that the billionaire must still appear at the hearing and comment on their actions.
In a new round of conflict, the regulators accused Musk of trying to «distort» the investigation and using «game tricks» to slow it down. Interestingly, the SEC’s statement does contain a link to a biography written by Isaacson, which the regulator cites as «newly published evidence»:
«Three days before he was to appear for testimony (but did not), his biography was published. This book contains important new information related to the investigation».
It should be noted that Musk has been ridiculed for years by the SEC, which accused him of fraud after his infamous 2018 tweet about «securing funding for Tesla». In the end, the billionaire reached an agreement with the regulator and paid a fine of $20 million, although it is still struggling with a nanny lawyer who must approve some of his tweets about Tesla.
Source: Engadget