Elon Musk Faces SEC Sanctions Over Missed Testimony in Twitter Probe

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission intends to seek sanctions against Elon Musk for failing to appear for court-ordered testimony related to their investigation into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter. Musk's lawyer called the sanctions 'drastic,' citing an emergency that required Musk's presence at a SpaceX launch.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Friday that it plans to pursue sanctions against Elon Musk after he did not appear for a mandated court testimony connected to an investigation into his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. The SEC is questioning why Musk failed to show up only informing them three hours prior to the scheduled testimony on September 10.

Musk, who runs electric car giant Tesla and space exploration firm SpaceX, was overseeing a SpaceX mission launch at Florida's Cape Canaveral on the day of the scheduled testimony. The SEC pointed out that Musk, as SpaceX's chief technical officer, must have been aware of the launch plans, undermining his excuse.

SEC lawyer Robin Andrews criticized Musk's actions as 'gamesmanship,' while Musk's attorney, Alex Spiro, argued that sanctions are 'drastic' and cited safety concerns for astronauts as the reason for Musk's absence. The SEC's investigation centers on Musk's delayed disclosure of his Twitter stock purchases in early 2022 and whether this violated securities laws.

(With inputs from agencies.)