Elon Musk is required by a federal judge to appear before the SEC about his acquisition of Twitter shares

According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk has been subpoenaed by a federal court in California to appear before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about possible federal securities law breaches pertaining to his purchase of Twitter.

The court’s decision was detailed in a document on Friday. It said that the sought testimony is not overly onerous and that the material gathered is relevant to the SEC’s continuing inquiry.
Musk testified before the SEC in July 2022, spending two half-day sessions answering questions. This legal action comes after his prior testimony. But with “thousands of new documents” at its disposal from many sources—some of which are written by Musk himself—the SEC decides it’s time to reinterview him over the newly acquired data. According to the court document, Musk’s legal team first consented to the September testimony but then asked for a one-day delay before deciding not to show up.
The SEC is primarily interested in learning more about Musk’s Twitter stock purchases made before the company’s last acquisition—now called X—which took place in October 2022. According to court records, Musk has refuted the SEC’s investigation’s justification, calling it irrational and claiming that it is looking for unrelated information.
Musk also objects to what he sees as an overreach of the SEC’s authority in having an SEC staffer appointed by the agency’s director of enforcement issue the subpoena rather than a person appointed by the president, a court, or the head of a federal department. On Friday, the court rejected this defense, stating that the Exchange Act does, in fact, authorize the subpoena.
The parties have been told to get together in a week to arrange on a mutually agreeable time and place for Musk’s evidence.