The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said it’s seeking sanctions against Elon Musk for failing to testify in its ongoing probe into his $44 billion acquisition of X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Musk, the SEC states, was set to give his testimony on Sept. 10 — but bailed three hours beforehand.
“The Court must make clear that Musk’s gamesmanship and delay tactics must cease,” the SEC said in its filing.
The SEC also said it would be pursuing an order to show cause for Musk being held in civil contempt of his court-ordered testimony, as well as having Musk repay its travel costs for the cancelation.
Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro, in a statement responding to the filing, said this was a “drastic action” by the SEC that is “inappropriate” for several reasons, including the fact that Musk’s testimony had already been rescheduled for Oct. 3.
Spiro also noted the SEC had previously agreed to let Musk reschedule his testimony in case of an emergency, and that was the case with his canceled Sept. 10 testimony. Musk, who was on the East Coast for SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission the day before, was unable to make it back to Los Angeles in time. (Musk, beyond owning X, continues to serve as the head honcho at SpaceX and Tesla.)
The SEC felt, given his attorneys only gave the commission a heads up hours before his scheduled testimony, that it wasn’t a kosher move.
“Musk’s excuse itself smacks of gamesmanship,” the SEC said in its filing.
This isn’t the first time the SEC has looked to punish Musk. Notably, he agreed to step down and pay a $20 million fine in 2018 following a tweet he wrote stating that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share.
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