Elon Musk’s bid to shift a major Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit from Washington, DC, to Texas hit a roadblock Thursday. A federal judge shot down the request, even though Musk argued he was too swamped to handle the case in the nation’s capital.
US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan gets that Musk juggles a lot as the world’s richest person, with a net worth that just topped $500 billion for the first time. But she pointed out his “considerable means” and the fact that he spends at least 40% of his time outside Texas. In fact, Musk’s own court filing shows he’s racked up plenty of time in DC this year, including his stint leading the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The judge also noted that Texas courts deal with heavier caseloads, while her court in DC can move the Elon Musk SEC lawsuit along with “reasonable alacrity.” Musk had pushed for the change, calling himself an “incredibly busy individual” who logs 80-plus hour weeks and often crashes at his office or factory. He claimed fighting the case in Washington would create “substantial burdens.”
Musk’s lawyers didn’t respond right away to requests for comment, and an SEC spokesperson stayed silent, blaming the ongoing government shutdown.
This all stems from a January lawsuit where the SEC accused Musk of delaying an 11-day disclosure on his initial 5% stake in Twitter back in early 2022. That hold-up, regulators say, let him snap up more than $500 million in shares at bargain prices, hurting everyday investors. The SEC wants Musk to cough up a civil fine and return $150 million he supposedly gained unfairly.
Musk is pushing to toss the whole case out of court. Remember, he ended up buying Twitter outright for $44 billion in October 2022 and rebranded it as X. He lives in Austin, Texas, where his big ventures like Tesla, SpaceX, and the Boring Company call home.
Sooknanan wasn’t swayed by Musk’s backup plan either—she rejected moving the Twitter stake disclosure case to Manhattan, even though former Twitter shareholders are already suing him there over related issues. The Elon Musk Twitter controversy keeps unfolding, so stay tuned for more updates on this high-stakes legal battle.
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