SEC accuses Musk of distorting scope of investigation into Twitter purchase

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Elon Musk on Wednesday of distorting the scope of its investigation into his 2022 purchase of Twitter as the agency attempts to force him to sit for a deposition.

“Musk continues to distort the true scope of this investigation — his only hope for establishing that the SEC is not seeking relevant evidence,” the agency wrote in a new filing.

The SEC sued Musk in October to compel him to testify in its probe into his purchase of Twitter, which he has since renamed X. 

Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler ruled last month that Musk must sit for the deposition with the agency. However, Beeler referred the issue to a district judge several days later, after Musk questioned the magistrate judge’s jurisdiction.

The billionaire is now asking the district judge to consider the issue anew. The SEC argued Wednesday that Beeler made the correct decision in ordering Musk to testify, accusing him of misrepresenting the scope of the investigation and the relevance of his testimony.

The agency launched its investigation in April 2022 to examine whether any federal security laws were violated in connection with Musk’s purchase of Twitter stock and his statements and SEC filings related to Twitter.

Musk initially sat for two half-day sessions with the SEC in 2022. A year later, the agency asked the billionaire to sit for another session, but he refused to appear.

In a filing earlier this month, Musk argued that the latest demand for testimony comes in a “nearly two-years-long investigation prompted by nothing more than allegedly days-late filings” and seeks to question him on issues he “has already covered twice before.”

However, the SEC emphasized Wednesday that the probe is also examining Musk’s statements about potentially acquiring Twitter and aims to ask him new questions based on new information. The agency also accused Musk of dragging out the investigation.

“Since that outreach in April 2023, Musk has done everything he can to delay the completion of this matter,” the SEC wrote in Wednesday’s filing. “Musk now complains that this investigation has been pending for too long, but it was Musk’s delay tactics that have turned one year into almost two.”