Court orders Elon Musk to testify in SEC inquiry over Twitter acquisition

Elon Musk has been compelled to testify in a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry regarding his acquisition of social media platform Twitter, now rebranded as X, as per a court filing.

Judge Laurel Beeler upheld the SEC’s authority in the matter, affirming that the subpoena aimed to gather pertinent information for the investigation.

“The court grants the SEC’s motion to enforce the subpoena: it seeks relevant information, and it is otherwise valid,” the judge wrote.

The SEC and Musk must agree on a date and location for his testimony within a week.

Last year, the SEC initiated legal action against Musk for failing to comply with a subpoena that had been served since May. The regulator was investigating potential securities fraud related to Musk’s actions in 2022, particularly his stock purchases and accumulation of a stake in Twitter before the leveraged buyout.

At the time, the SEC said it needed Musk’s testimony to obtain information relevant to its legitimate and lawful investigation.

However, Musk criticized the SEC’s subpoena as harassment and advocated for a comprehensive reform of regulatory agencies.

“A comprehensive overhaul of [regulatory] agencies is sorely needed, along with a commission to take punitive action against those individuals who have abused their regulatory power for personal and political gain … can’t wait for this to happen,” Musk said.

Musk finalized the acquisition of Twitter in October 2022 for approximately $44 billion. Subsequently, he introduced various features intending to reshape the platform into a multifunctional “everything app.”

Earlier announcements hinted at the launch of a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment system this year, although it remains unclear whether crypto will be involved in these developments.

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