The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday in a statement it will file sanctions against Elon Musk after the billionaire failed to be found for his court-ordered testimony in the regulator’s probe into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.
In a filing in San Francisco federal court, the SEC said sanctions motions would seek an order to show cause for why Musk should not be held in civil contempt for waiting until three hours before the scheduled Sept. 10 testimony to advise he would not show up.
On Tuesday, Musk, whose companies include electric car maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX and who is the world’s richest person, flew to Florida’s Cape Canaveral in order to witness the liftoff of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission.
But the SEC countered that as the chief technical officer of SpaceX, Musk “surely was already aware” of the planned launch since the company had discussed it two days earlier. It said Musk’s actions violated a May 31 court order compelling his testimony.
“Musk’s excuse itself smacks of gamesmanship,” SEC lawyer Robin Andrews wrote. “The court must make clear that Musk’s gamesmanship and delay tactics must cease.”
The sanctions were “drastic” and unjustified, said Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney. He said that the absence of Musk from the launch could have threatened the lives of astronauts and added that his testimony has been rescheduled for Oct. 3.
