Elon Musk’s lawyer has accused the US Securities and Exchange Commission of harassment in its attempts to get the Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), now X, owner to testify in court.
Objecting to the SEC’s subpoena for Musk to testify in a case relating to his US$44 billion acquisition of Twitter, Musk’s lawyer accused the regulator of seeking "irrelevant evidence".
"The SEC’s pursuit of Mr. Musk has crossed the line into harassment," attorney Alex Spiro wrote in a Thursday filing.
Regulators have requested Musk testify for a third time in the case, which is investigating whether he complied with federal security laws when purchasing Twitter last year.
More specifically, regulators have probed statements made by Musk at the time and also whether he met SEC deadlines for filings.
New evidence had been received since Musk’s previous court appearances, the SEC said last month, adding he had failed to show up to a September interview.
The SEC previously stated that another testimony would look “to obtain information not already in [its] possession that is relevant to its legitimate and lawful investigation”.