The richest man in the world Elon Musk is being investigated by federal authorities over his conduct in his $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter.
The social media company revealed Musk is being investigated in a court filing released on Thursday. While the filing said he was under investigation, it did not specify what the exact focus of the probes was and which federal authorities are conducting them.
Musk had tried for months to back out of the deal he signed with Twitter to buy the social media platform. Twitter sued Musk in July to force him to close the deal he made.
Twitter said attorneys for the Tesla CEO had claimed “investigative privilege” when refusing to hand over documents it requested. Twitter said it had requested that Musk’s attorneys produce their communications with federal authorities months ago, and still had not done so.
In late September, Musk’s attorneys provided a “privilege log” identifying documents to be withheld, Twitter said. The log referenced drafts of a May 13 email to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a slide presentation to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The SEC enforces the law against market manipulation. The FTC promotes antitrust law and consumer protection.
The court filing asked Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick to order Musk’s attorneys to provide the documents. The filing was made on October 6, with was the same day the judge paused litigation between the two sides after Musk said he would indeed proceed with the deal in a surprising U-turn.
Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro said Twitter’s court filing was a “misdirection” and asserted that it is Twitter’s executives that are under federal investigation.
Musk has until Oct. 28 to close the acquisition of Twitter. If the deal is not finished by then, there will be a trial date set for November.
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