There is a federal probe into Elon Musk’s Twitter agreement
In a court filing made public on Thursday, Twitter Inc. announced that a government investigation is underway into Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the social media company.
Twitter claimed it had asked Musk’s attorneys to disclose their communications with federal authorities for months but they had refused, so it filed a lawsuit with a Delaware judge demanding the information be disclosed.
In late September, lawyers for Musk provided a “privilege log” outlining the documents that would be kept from discovery. Twitter claims that the log includes references to an FTC slide presentation and an SEC email draft.
On October 6, Twitter asked a judge in Delaware to postpone the case while it finalized its acquisition agreement with Musk.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is worried about Musk’s Twitter acquisition comments. In April, the SEC asked Musk whether or not his declaration disclosing his 9% stake in Twitter was late and why it gave the impression that he planned to be a passive investor.
Musk later updated the disclosure to reflect his current role as an active investor.
In a letter to Musk in June, the SEC questioned whether or not he should have revised his public filing to reflect his desire to pause or terminate the acquisition.