Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk is under investigation for his conduct in connection with the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, according to a court filing by the social media giant. Twitter says it "has exchanged substantive correspondence with these authorities regarding their investigation through legal counsel."
Federal authorities are investigating Elon Musk, Twitter reports
Twitter revealed in a court filing released Thursday that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is under federal investigation in connection with his $44 billion bid to buy the social media platform.
In an Oct. 6 letter to Judge Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, who is overseeing the company's case against Musk, said Twitter lawyers have been requesting documents related to the investigation from Musk since July 22. Lawyers wrote:
Elon Musk is currently under investigation by federal authorities for his conduct in connection with the acquisition of Twitter. Through a legal representative, he exchanged substantive correspondence with these authorities regarding their investigation.
While the lawyers emphasized that the documents “relate to key issues in this lawsuit,” they emphasized, “Twitter requested the production of these documents months ago. But with just 11 days left in the trial, the defendants still haven't produced them."
In their letter, Twitter's lawyers also referenced a letter the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allegedly sent to Musk in June. According to Twitter, the SEC sought information related to a tweet Musk posted in May indicating that "the deal cannot move forward" until the social media company provides it with more information about spam and fraudulent accounts on the platform.
The SEC also investigated Twitter over how it identified spam accounts. In a July 27 letter, the SEC told Twitter: “We have completed our review of your filings. We remind you that the company and its management are responsible for the accuracy and adequacy of their published information, regardless of any review, comment, action, or lack of action by employees."
Musk originally agreed to buy Twitter in April for about $44 billion. However, he subsequently tried to back out of the agreement, accusing Twitter of material breach of the agreement. He officially ended his bid to buy Twitter in July, claiming the social media company was not transparent about the number of bots and fake accounts on its platform. Musk outlined several reasons for ending the deal.
Twitter subsequently sued Tesla's CEO to force him to close the deal. Musk filed a lawsuit against Twitter. Both sides were scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 17 in Delaware Chancery Court.
Last week, however, Musk said he would buy Twitter for an agreed price of $54.20 per share. The court gave him until October 28 to close the acquisition to avoid trial. Musk said buying Twitter would accelerate the creation of the "X, the Everything" app.
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