FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk in Paris
By Chris Prentice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Elon Musk plans to ask a district court to review a U.S. magistrate judge’s order siding with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as it seeks to compel him to testify for its investigation of his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, according to a court document filed on Thursday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler on Saturday ordered Musk to testify again in the SEC’s probe of his takeover of the social media giant – that Musk subsequently renamed X – giving the billionaire and the agency a week to agree on a date.
The order formalized her tentative ruling from December in which she sided with the SEC.
In Thursday’s filing, Musk’s lawyers asked the court to say her ruling was just a recommendation and not binding.
The SEC is examining whether Musk followed the law when filing the required paperwork about his purchases of Twitter stock, and whether his statements in relation to the deal were misleading.
Musk has fought the SEC’s bid to interview him, saying he has done so twice and accusing the regulator of harassment.
(Reporting by Chris Prentice; writing by Jasper Ward; editing by Stephen Coates)
