Twitter uncovered in a court filing delivered Thursday that, Tesla Chief Elon Musk is under government investigation regarding his $44 billion bid to purchase the social media platform.
In a letter dated Oct. 6, addressed to Judge Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick who oversees the organization’s case against Musk, Twitter’s legal advisors noticed that they have been requesting the archives connected with the investigation from Musk since July 22. The attorneys wrote:
“Elon Musk is presently under investigation by federal authorities for his conduct in connection with the acquisition of Twitter. Through counsel, he has exchanged substantive correspondence with those authorities concerning their investigations.”
While underscoring that those reports “bear upon key issues in this suit,” the legal team focused: “Twitter requested for the production of those archives months earlier. However, with trial only 11 days away, the respondents have still not produced them.”
In their letter, Twitter’s legal team likewise alluded to a letter the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) purportedly sent Musk in June. As per Twitter, the SEC was looking for data connected with a tweet Musk posted in May, demonstrating that the “bargain can’t push ahead” until the social media company gives him more data about spam and fraud accounts on the platform.
The SEC likewise probes Twitter over the organization’s strategy for recognizing or identifying spam accounts. In a letter dated July 27, the SEC told Twitter: “We have finished our survey of your filings. We advise you that the organization and its services are answerable for the exactness and ampleness of their divulgences, despite any audit, remarks, activity or nonappearance of activity by the staff.”
In case you are not aware
Musk originally agreed to buy Twitter in April for about $44 billion. However, he subsequently tried to back out of the deal, accusing Twitter of a material breach of the agreement. He officially terminated his offer to buy Twitter in July, claiming that the social media company had not been transparent about the number of bots and fake accounts on its platform. Musk outlined multiple reasons to end the deal.
Twitter subsequently sued the Tesla CEO to force him to close the deal. Musk countersued Twitter. The two sides were scheduled to go to trial in Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17.
However, last week Musk said he would purchase Twitter at the agreed-upon price of $54.20 a share. The court gave him until Oct. 28 to close the acquisition to avoid a trial. Musk said that the purchase of Twitter will accelerate the creation of “X, the everything app.”
