Elon Musk's Twitter takeover under investigation by US Securities

Elon Musk could be compelled to testify as his €44 billion ($44bn) takeover of Twitter is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The case centres around concerns that Musk broke federal security laws in 2022, when he bought Twitter stock, court fillings showed on Thursday.

The investigation is also looking into statements and SEC filings Musk made in relation to the deal.

There has been a long-running feud between the SEC and Musk, and this development only marks the continuation of it.

On Thursday, SEC confirmed it is seeking a court order to compel Musk to testify at the SEC's San Francisco office.

Initially, Musk agreed to appear on 15 September, the SEC said, but two days beforehand he raised "several spurious objections" and said he would not appear.

Among his objections was that the SEC was trying to "harass" him and that his counsel needed time to review potentially relevant material in a biography of Musk, SEC added.

Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm PayPal, and in 2002 he founded SpaceX, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft.

He was an early funder of Tesla, which makes electric cars and batteries, and became its chief executive officer in 2008. 

In September 2022 Musk embarked on a new journey as Twitter’s shareholders voted to accept his offer of $44 billion. 

Musk changed the name of the company from Twitter to X in July 2023.