A federal judge’s rejection of a demand by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it be allowed to sanction billionaire and Trump BFF Elon Musk was met by a brutal smackdown of that agency by Musk on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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The SEC demanded that Musk be interviewed about his takeover of Twitter. Apparently, Musk waited ten days too long to announce his intent to take control of Twitter.
The SEC is investigating whether Musk violated securities laws in early 2022 when he started accumulating Twitter stock.
Musk has been criticized, including by Twitter shareholders, for waiting at least 10 days too long to disclose he was buying Twitter shares.
Investors must disclose when they reach 5% ownership of public companies. Musk eventually disclosed a 9.2% Twitter stake, and soon thereafter offered to buy the whole company.
The interview was scheduled for September 10, but when the SEC lawyers arrived in San Francisco, Musk informed them he couldn’t make the appointment.
After some initial scheduling back-and-forth, the parties had agreed that Musk would testify on September 10, and SEC lawyers flew to Los Angeles to take Musk’s testimony, according to Friday’s court filing. But three hours before his testimony was set to begin, Musk’s lawyer told the SEC that his client, who also runs SpaceX, had to urgently travel to the East Coast for the launch of the Polaris Dawn mission and would be unable to attend the testimony or reschedule to the following day, the filing states.
Did Musk screw with them? Almost certainly so. It is hard to believe that no one in his office noticed that he had a session with federal regulators until they showed up. The SEC dudes went home empty-handed but with an agreement to meet again on October 3. This time, Musk was present, and he paid for the transportation expenses of the SEC attorneys. All $2,932 of it. They must’ve had hotel rooms with a clear view of a fentanyl shooting gallery and hobos defecating in the street because that was not enough for the SEC. It isn’t important that you comply with the law, but it is vital that you never show disrespect to the bureaucracy.
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday it intends to seek sanctions against Elon Musk after he failed to appear for court-ordered testimony for the regulator’s probe into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.
In a filing in San Francisco federal court, the SEC said the sanctions motion would seek an order to show cause for why Musk should not be held in civil contempt for waiting until three hours before the scheduled Sept. 10 testimony to advise he would not show up.
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But the SEC said that as SpaceX’s chief technical officer, Musk “surely was already aware” of the planned launch because the company had discussed it two days earlier. It said Musk’s actions violated a May 31 court order compelling his testimony.
“Musk’s excuse itself smacks of gamesmanship,” SEC lawyer Robin Andrews wrote. “The court must make clear that Musk’s gamesmanship and delay tactics must cease.”
The presiding judge in the case, a Biden appointee, didn’t care much for the SEC throwing its weight around. “Because the present circumstances forestall any occasion for meaningful relief that the court could grant, the SEC’s request is moot,” US District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley wrote.
When Musk was congratulated on his win in X, he had the ultimate reply waiting.
As this is a family site, I’ll leave it to your imagination what the missing words mean, I’m confident that are not those listed below.
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This one, though, is close.
Not only was this decision just, but it also came at the absolute worst time for the federal bureaucracy. Musk and fellow tech bro Vivek Ramaswamy have been charged by President-elect Trump with rooting out government waste and stupidity; see Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy Appointed to Lead the ‘Department of Government Efficiency.’ Having this episode fresh on his mind as he enters the fray ensures he will not be in the mood to pull punches in his fight to shave a couple of trillion dollars off the federal budget.