SEC Seeks Sanctions Against Elon Musk In Twitter Probe

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced its intent to seek sanctions against Elon Musk for failing to appear for court-ordered testimony in its investigation into his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Musk's legal team argued that the billionaire's absence could have endangered the astronauts' safety. I Photo: Elon Musk X

The report was filed by Jonathan Stempel and Chris Prentice for Reuters.

In a filing in San Francisco federal court, the SEC said it would pursue an order to show cause as to why Musk should not be held in civil contempt.

Musk notified the SEC just three hours before his scheduled September 10 testimony that he would not attend. On that day, Musk, who owns Tesla and SpaceX, was at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to oversee SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission.

The SEC pointed out that as SpaceX’s chief technical officer, Musk was likely aware of the mission beforehand, as it had been discussed two days prior.

The SEC accused Musk of violating a May 31 court order requiring his testimony, with SEC lawyer Robin Andrews stating, "Musk’s excuse itself smacks of gamesmanship."

Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, called the potential sanctions “drastic” and unnecessary, arguing that Musk’s absence could have endangered the astronauts' safety. Musk’s testimony has been rescheduled for October 3.