US regulator investigating Elon Musk’s Twitter buy

The news: Court filings have revealed billionaire Elon Musk is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over his 2022 purchase of social media giant Twitter.

The numbers: The SEC on Thursday asked the court to order Elon Musk to comply with the agency’s ongoing investigation of his $US44 billion takeover last year of Twitter, which he has since been renamed X.

The context: The investigation concerns whether Musk broke US federal securities laws in connection with his 2022 purchases of stock in Twitter as well as statements and SEC filings he made in relation to the deal. Musk acquired the company after initially building a large minority stake in the social media platform, which he allegedly failed to disclose in a timely manner. Musk was scheduled to provide testimony to the SEC on 15 September, but failed to appear. Musk has a long history of feuding with the SEC and has previously settled a fraud investigation in 2018 related to statements he made about taking EV maker Tesla private.