Elon Musk didn’t show up for testimony in a probe over his $44 billion Twitter takeover. Now the SEC wants sanctions

MicroWave@lemm.ee to News@lemmy.world – 688 points – Elon Musk didn’t show up for testimony in a probe over his $44 billion Twitter takeover. Now the SEC wants sanctions | CNN Business
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The Securities and Exchange Commission intends to seek sanctions against Elon Musk over his failure to appear for testimony in an investigation related to his takeover of Twitter, now called X, the regulator said in a court filing Friday.

Earlier this year, a federal judge ordered Musk to testify as part of the SEC’s probe of the billionaire’s $44 billion acquisition. The agency is examining whether Musk followed the law when disclosing his purchases of Twitter stock and whether his statements in relation to the deal were misleading.

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Lock him up for contempt of court until he testifies.

I would literally be shocked if they enforced a rule that everyone else has to follow on a celebrity billionaire

I'm not sure what the law is on this. But from a practical standpoint, I would like to see adverse inferences drawn against him because he failed to show. That would form the basis for massive fines, so assess those fines, and take away a ton of his money.

It doesn't seem like there's any need to put him behind bars when this is a question about doing shady things with money that can be handled by taking away a lot of his cash.

It is not unusual in alimony or child support cases for someone who refuses to pay what they owe to be locked up for contempt. It is a way of compelling obedience to the law in civil cases.

And if he refuses to pay the fines, then yes, lock him up, but that's not what happened here

So what should be the fine? 100 billion? Even with that less he would still be one of the richest persons

Uh awktually he doesn't have that much cash in hand that is net worth blah lah lah

Yeah, people don't really understand that the ultra rich don't have a 10+ figure checking account. Most of that money isn't very liquid.

You mean he doesn't have a Scrooge McDuck style room filled with dollar bills that he goes swimming in?

And afterward too, for being a malignant, malevolent social parasite

How hard would it be for the judge to "have him fetched"?

Would be epic and the tantrum would be hilarious

Just like Trump- even when it looks like there will be consequences, there will be no consequences.

Take a page out of the EU handbook, fine him 5% of global Twitter revenue per infraction.

fine him 5% of the sale value when he bought it.

Ground his planes.

That's the FAA. The SEC could halt Trading in Tesla, spaceX and other musk companies while they investigate irregularities.

Tesla is the only Musk company that trades publicly

Taking action against unrelated companies isn't typically allowed.

The SECs quarrel is with Elon and Twitter and has nothing to do with his other companies.

However, much like his 420 tweet where they were able to have him resign as chair of Tesla, they could probably do something with sanctions that target him specifically, like disallow him from being on the board of a public company.

But that's about as direct of an impact as they could have on the other companies.

He’s above the law until they can hold him accountable for his actions. They either need to admit that he is- or prove he isn’t.

Can the US revoke his citizenship and deport his ass back to SA?

He's also a Canadian citizen (moved here originally then USA) so they'd just send him here instead.

He doesn't care, he thinks he'll get a presidential pardon after Trump gets elected.

Not showing up? I hope he's okay. 😟

Wow, talk about a genius! His innovations are truly changing the world. I'm so grateful for his vision and drive to make the impossible possible. He's a real inspiration to us all! Thanks for everything, Elon!