In continuation of a preliminary judgement delivered in December, a United States Federal Judge has recently mandated Elon Musk to adhere to the subpoena issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He will need to testify once more concerning their investigation into his control over Twitter, according to Reuters. This order was registered on a Saturday evening in a California court. Musk and the SEC now have a seven-day window to coordinate a suitable time and location for his testimony, otherwise it will be arranged for them. The SEC has been scrutinizing Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, currently known as X, since 2022 due to concerns related to the delay in revealing his ownership of Twitter.
This order was put into effect after Musk did not attend a deposition in September and also declined to participate in a rearranged meeting, leading the SEC to litigate. U.S Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler upheld the SEC’s position when Musk attempted to dispute its subpoena. Musk alleges that the subpoena is intended to gather immaterial information and amounts to harassment, given that he has already testified twice. However, the SEC contends that it has procured fresh documents pertaining to the investigation and has supplementary queries for the X proprietor. According to Musk, the subpoena surpasses the SEC’s jurisdiction since it was distributed by an employee designated by the SEC’s Enforcement Director. Beeler dismissed these rebuttals, affirming that the subpoena holds validity.
