Elon Musk, CEO of the automotive giant Tesla, is reportedly being probed by federal authorities in association with his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, according to a court filing publicly disclosed on Thursday.
While the filing stated that he was being investigated, it neither specified the nature of the inquiry nor did it disclose the identities of the investigating federal officials.
Twitter claimed that Musk's attorneys had invoked the investigative privilege to withhold the requested papers when Musk was sued in July, to pressurize him into finalizing the purchase.
Musk's attorneys offered a privilege log describing the papers to be withheld in late September. Twitter claimed that the log included a draft of an email to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 13 as well as a PowerPoint presentation to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The SEC has already asked about Musk's remarks on the purchase of Twitter. It interrogated Musk in April about whether his 9% Twitter stake statement was late and why it suggested that he intended on being a passive investor. Later, Musk changed the declaration to that of an active investor.
In June, the SEC also questioned in a letter if Musk should have updated his public filing to disclose his desire to suspend or terminate the deal.
The FTC and SEC did not comply with the demands for comment immediately.
Musk's attorney, Alex Spiro, stated that Twitter's court submission was a misdirection. It is Twitter's executives, who are being investigated by the FBI.
The filing comes as the long saga of Musk's proposed acquisition of Twitter unfolds. During that time, the billionaire suggested the acquisition, then backed out of the agreement. Twitter subsequently sued Musk to fulfill his promise.
Days before a trial was scheduled to push the sale through, Musk's lawyers then announced that he would move forward with the transaction. The Tesla boss is reportedly in the process of arranging funds to complete the transaction.
Source credit: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/13/elon-musk-investigation-twitter-takeover-deal