Elon Musk was ordered by a federal court on Tuesday to testify again in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his $44 billion takeover of social media platform Twitter, now known as X.
The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Newsweek contacted Musk for comment via the X press office. The almost immediate reply was: "Busy now, please check back later."
This is the latest in a long line of legal headaches for the multi-billionaire. Below is a timeline of some of Musk's other recent legal battles.
April 2022
Musk announced a deal to purchase Twitter for $44 billion. The deal soon led to legal scrutiny over how he amassed his stake in Twitter and the delayed disclosure of this stake to the SEC.
Investors who acquire a 5% or more stake in a publicly traded company are required to disclose this ownership within 10 days of acquisition. Musk reportedly reached this threshold on March 14, but did not disclose it until April 4, 21 days later.
May 2022
Twitter investors sued Musk for allegedly manipulating the company's stock price. The lawsuit claimed that Musk failed to disclose in March 2022 that he was amassing shares in Twitter, leading to fluctuations in the stock price.
By delaying his disclosure, Musk was accused of engaging in market manipulation, purchasing Twitter stock at an artificially low price. This tactic was believed to influence the stock price negatively, saving Musk around $156 million.
June 2022
Musk was also accused of insider trading by investors who alleged he manipulated the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, causing them to incur significant financial losses.
Musk was sued for $258 billion by a Dogecoin investor who accused him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency. According to Reuters, the plaintiff, Keith Johnson, alleged that Musk, along with his companies Tesla and SpaceX, promoted Dogecoin and drove up its price, only to let it plummet later.
July-September 2022
Twitter sued Elon Musk in Delaware's Chancery Court to enforce the completion of his $44 billion acquisition of the company.
The legal action followed Musk's attempt to terminate the deal, citing issues with Twitter's disclosures about spam accounts and bot activity, which he claimed were misleading and impacted the company's value.
October 2022
The SEC sued Musk to compel him to testify as part of a probe into his takeover of Twitter.
Musk resisted the subpoena on several grounds, including claims that the SEC's investigation was baseless and harassing, and that the subpoena exceeded the SEC's authority because it was not issued by an officer appointed by the President, a court, or the head of a department.
February 2023
Musk's $56 billion compensation at Tesla is challenged in a non-jury trial. The allegations included that Musk coerced Tesla directors into approving the deal and that the disclosures about the pay plan were misleading.
Presiding judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that the process followed by Tesla's board was "deeply flawed," resulting in an unfair and potentially excessive compensation package.
The blocked package would have made Musk the recipient of what McCormick dubbed the "largest potential opportunity ever observed in public markets by multiple orders of magnitude."
April 2023
A federal jury in San Francisco orders Tesla to pay $137 million to a Black elevator operator who won a racial harassment lawsuit against the company.
Owen Diaz alleged that he was repeatedly referred to using racial slurs by workers at a California factory he worked at between 2015 and 2016.
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Joe Edwards is a Live News Reporter in Newsweek's London bureau.
