Last year, after several storms, Musk finally acquired social platform X (formerly Twitter, hereinafter referred to as "Twitter") for $44 billion.。Although "Twitter" has been transformed into an "X" under Musk's sweeping reforms, the deal has not become a "thing of the past" and is still under investigation by regulators.。

On Oct. 5, local time, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Musk's acquisition of Twitter, according to a court filing that asked Musk to provide testimony on the matter.。The investigation is said to involve Musk's purchase of a large amount of shares in Twitter before the company's acquisition in 2022, which the SEC believes is suspected of violating federal securities laws.。

                    

Insider trading in Twitter acquisition？

                

Prior to the wholly-owned acquisition of Twitter, Musk bought the social media company in March 2022..2% of the shares。He then disclosed the stake to the SEC in April.。According to the regulations, people who purchase more than 5% of the shares of a listed company are required to disclose the relevant transaction information within 10 days.。Musk did not comply with this rule.。

Musk, on the other hand, bought a large amount of shares in Twitter before it acquired the company, which means there may be violations such as insider trading, market manipulation and even violations of fair market disclosure.。

On April 4, 2022, Musk revealed that he held Twitter 9.After a 2% stake, Twitter's share price went from 39.$31 up to 49.$97, up 27%。Musk's Twitter acquisition is valued at 54 per share.20美元。

Some Twitter shareholders said that Musk's failure to disclose the stock increase in time led some shareholders to sell Twitter shares at an "artificially low" price.。Musk, on the other hand, saved about $200 million by increasing his stake in Twitter and privately discussing acquisition plans with executives.。

In response to the failure to disclose the increase in Twitter stock in a timely manner, Musk's lawyer said that as the founder or CEO of various companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, Musk is "one of the busiest people on the planet," so his failure to comply with SEC rules is "unintentional."。

But the judge argued that Musk, at the time, was often active on social media platforms and met privately with Twitter executives, making it impossible to believe that Musk was "too busy" to comply with SEC disclosure rules.。

Musk's lawyers have also argued that Musk was a temporary insider when he bought shares in Twitter because of his meetings and communications with company executives.。However, this claim was also rejected by a judge, who found that there was insufficient evidence that Musk had entered into a non-disclosure agreement with Twitter at the time and that there was no evidence that Musk had made a significant decision for Twitter that would have allowed him to be classified as an insider.。

In addition to disagreeing with the SEC's allegations, Musk is not very cooperative with the SEC's request to testify in court.。

The SEC said it subpoenaed Musk in May 2023 to testify before the San Francisco financial regulator's office, and Musk agreed to appear in court on September 15.。However, two days before the trial, Musk raised several objections and told the SEC he would not appear in court.。Among the reasons Musk objected was that San Francisco was not a suitable location for the meeting because he did not live in San Francisco, the SEC said.。

To that end, the SEC further said it is willing to testify at any of its 11 offices, including one in Fort Worth, Texas, which is closer to where Musk lives.。But Musk also denied the agency's request for testimony statements in Texas in October or November, according to the SEC.。Musk's lawyer responded that Musk would not testify at any location.。

The SEC's latest court filing does not detail the specifics of its investigation, but the agency believes it has a responsibility to protect investors and has the power to investigate, and Musk has no reason to refuse to comply.。

The SEC said it began investigating the Twitter acquisition in April 2022 and requested thousands of documents from Musk and other parties.。According to the documents, Musk had previously sent hundreds of documents and testified twice in July 2022.。

Musk's lawyer, AlexSpiro, said in a statement: "The SEC has heard Mr. Musk's testimony many times during this misleading investigation - enough is enough.。"

A hearing on the matter is tentatively scheduled for November 9 in San Francisco.。

             

Musk and regulators "feud"

             

Over the years, Musk has frequently feuded with securities regulators, whom he called the "Short Sellers Get Rich Committee" in October 2018.。As a world-renowned billionaire, Musk's tweets on social media platforms are often hugely influential and often controversial, which has become a major focus of his battle with regulators。

In 2018, Musk tweeted that he had secured funds to take Tesla private at $420 per share, and that investor support for the deal was confirmed.。Tesla's stock fluctuated in the following weeks, prompting the SEC to investigate whether Musk committed securities fraud.。That same year, Musk agreed to pay a $20 million fine, relinquish his chairmanship at the automaker and clear future tweets about the company through internal monitoring.。

In June, investors accused Musk of insider trading in a proposed class-action lawsuit, and investors accused Musk of manipulating the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, causing them to lose billions of dollars.。Investors believe that Musk uses his celebrity effect to create gimmicks on platforms such as Twitter and then trade through multiple Dogecoin wallets controlled by him or Tesla to make a profit。

In addition to the "trouble" of speaking on Twitter, the litigation facing Musk and his company has never stopped.。The SEC is also investigating claims by Musk and Tesla that Tesla's cars are "fully autonomous."。According to documents filed in a California court, Tesla is facing a lawsuit alleging that its Autopilot system caused a fatal accident in the Tesla Model 3, killing one person and injuring two other passengers.。Tesla lawyers said the accident was caused by human error.。In addition, New York federal prosecutors are also investigating Tesla benefits and claims related to vehicle mileage.。