Elon Musk has been ordered by a federal court to answer additional questions regarding his takeover of Twitter—now rebranded as X—on Thursday, and the financial world is left wondering: Will he actually show up?
Last month, he missed a court-ordered appearance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) office in Los Angeles. Thursday’s interview is part of a high-level investigation into whether Musk delayed disclosing his stake in Twitter before acquiring the social media platform in 2022. The billionaire has previously acknowledged that this delay was a mistake.
The SEC, the nation’s top securities regulator, is trying to compel his appearance on Thursday and is considering possible sanctions against him. For the September 10 court hearing, the SEC reported spending thousands of dollars to send three lawyers—two from San Francisco and one from Washington, D.C.—to take a sworn deposition from Musk. However, just three hours before the scheduled appointment, Musk’s lawyers informed the SEC that he would be unable to attend.
According to his lawyers, Musk had to urgently travel to the East Coast the day before for a “high-risk” launch by his rocket company, SpaceX. However, SpaceX had already posted about the timing of the scheduled launch two days prior to Musk’s deposition date. Furthermore, a day before the meeting, Musk told interviewers at a conference that he intended to travel to Florida “if the weather is holding up” for the launch. The SEC claims he did not communicate those plans to them, and government lawyers learned about the launch timing only later.
After Musk canceled the meeting, the SEC rescheduled it and subsequently asked a federal court to ensure Musk’s attendance. He has given two depositions since the SEC began investigating his $44 billion (£34 billion) purchase of Twitter in 2022. The agency’s legal filings indicate that it is looking into whether his stock purchases prior to acquiring the company and his statements regarding those investments violated securities laws.
Despite this, Musk has refused to provide testimony for a third time, with his lawyers sending a letter to the SEC accusing the agency of harassment. In October, the SEC asked a court to compel him to provide more testimony.
Mr. Musk’s reason for missing last month’s appointment “smacks of gamesmanship,” SEC lawyers stated in a September 20 filing. They urged U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Corley to impose a penalty on him if he skips the upcoming meeting, arguing that such a measure is necessary to deter him from “failing to show up” on Thursday. They emphasized that Musk was expected to seek written consent from the SEC or obtain a court order to reschedule the meeting.
In response, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro of the law firm Quinn Emanuel, stated in his own filing that Musk and his companies have cooperated with the SEC in this investigation as well as several others. “In this investigation alone, Mr. Musk has produced hundreds of documents, he has sat for testimony twice, his wealth manager has sat for testimony three times, and other individuals connected to Mr. Musk have also sat for testimony, all without rescheduling or cancelling any of those testimonies,” Spiro wrote.
Musk’s legal team also pointed out that they had traveled to Los Angeles for his deposition last month and “immediately notified the SEC of the emergency.” The SEC declined to comment when approached by the BBC. However, in a court filing, SEC lawyer Robin Andrews urged Judge Corley to take a tough stance against the billionaire, stating, “The Court must make clear that gamesmanship and delay tactics must cease.”
