Wilmington, Del., Oct. 13 (Reuters) – Federal officials are investigating Elon Musk’s handling of a $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter. (TWTR.N)The social media company filed a court filing released Thursday.
While the filing said he was under investigation, it did not say what the exact focus of the investigations was or which federal officials were conducting them.
Twitter sued Musk in July, forcing him to close the deal, Tesla Inc’s lawyers said. (TSLA.O) The CEO claimed “interrogatory privilege” when he refused to hand over the requested documents.
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In late September, Twitter reported that Musk’s lawyers had provided a “privileged record” identifying the documents to be withheld. Drafts of an email sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 13 and a slide presentation filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The court filing asking a Delaware judge to order Musk’s lawyers to hand over the documents was made on Oct. 6 — the same day Musk reversed course after suspending the lawsuit between the two sides, saying he would continue. Agreement.
“This game of hiding the ball must end,” the company said in a court filing.
Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, told Reuters that Twitter’s court filing was “misleading.” Twitter declined to comment on Reuters questions about Spiro’s response and understanding of any investigation into Musk.
The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the FTC declined to comment.
The SEC has questioned Musk’s comments about the Twitter acquisition. In April, the SEC asked Musk whether he had delayed disclosing his 9% Twitter stake and why he wanted to be a passive shareholder. Musk later revised the disclosure to indicate he was an active investor.
In June, the SEC asked Musk in a letter whether he should have amended his public filing to reflect his intention to suspend or abandon the deal.
In April, the information and technology news site reported that the FTC was investigating whether Musk failed to comply with an antitrust reporting requirement by piling up his shares in Twitter.
Twitter said in June that the acquisition deal with Musk eliminated an antitrust waiting period for review by the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice. read more
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Reporting by Tom Halls in Wilmington, Delaware, Sheila Tang in Dallas and Hyunju Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Chris Rees and Edwina Gibbs
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