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Elon Musk Under Federal Investigation Over Twitter Deal
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Elon Musk under federal investigation over Twitter deal [bbc.com]:
Elon Musk is under a federal investigation related to his $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter.
The news came from a court filing made public on Thursday about the latest in ongoing legal disputes between the billionaire and the social network.
While the filing said he was under investigation, it did not say what the focus was.
"This game of 'hide the ball' must end," the company said in the court filing.
Mr Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twitter - which sued Mr Musk in July to force him to close the deal - said lawyers for the Tesla CEO had claimed "investigative privilege" when refusing to hand over documents it wanted.
It also said it had requested that Mr Musk's attorneys produce their communications with federal authorities months ago, but they had not done so.
In late September, Mr Musk's attorneys provided a "privilege log", identifying documents to be withheld.
The log referenced drafts of a 13 May email to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - the American regulator which enforces the law against market manipulation.
It also referenced a slide presentation to the Federal Trade Commission - whose principal mission is promoting antitrust law and consumer protection.
The court request was filed on the same day the court granted a stay of litigation to allow Twitter and Mr Musk to close the takeover deal.
Questions over the deal
The SEC has questioned Mr Musk's comments about the Twitter acquisition.
In April, the SEC asked him whether the disclosure of his 9% Twitter stake was late and why it indicated that he intended to be a passive shareholder. Mr Musk later refiled the disclosure to indicate he was an active investor.
In June, the SEC asked Mr Musk in a letter whether he should have amended his public filing to reflect his intention to suspend or abandon the deal.
Alex Spiro, an attorney for Mr Musk, told Reuters that Twitter's court filing was a "misdirection".
"It is Twitter's executives that are under federal investigation," he said.
Twitter declined to comment on the statement.
The filing comes as the months-long saga of Mr Musk's proposed Twitter purchase continues, during which the billionaire proposed a takeover, went back on the deal, and was then sued by Twitter to stick to his word.
The billionaire's side then said he would go ahead with the deal, just days before a trial was set to take place to force the purchase through.
Musk Says SpaceX Cannot Fund Ukraine’s Starlink ‘Indefinitely’
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Musk says SpaceX cannot fund Ukraine’s Starlink ‘indefinitely’ [aljazeera.com]:
Billionaire Elon Musk has said his space exploration company SpaceX cannot “indefinitely” fund the Starlink internet service in war-hit Ukraine, days after a proposal to end the conflict [aljazeera.com] that included the country ceding some territory to Russia called his support into question.
“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable,” Musk said on Twitter.
Musk activated Starlink [aljazeera.com], a satellite internet service operated by SpaceX, in late February after Ukraine’s internet services were disrupted due to Russia’s invasion. Its internet terminals have been crucial in keeping the Ukrainian military online.
Musk said Starlink was spending nearly $20m a month – which he called a “burn” – for maintaining satellite services in Ukraine. He recently said SpaceX had spent about $80m to enable and support Starlink in Ukraine.
CNN reported on Thursday that SpaceX had sent a letter to the Pentagon last month saying it may have to stop funding the service unless the United States military helped with tens of millions of dollars a month.
One of Musk’s tweets suggested the move may also be a response to harsh criticism following his proposed “peace” plan.
While Ukraine has long maintained it will never agree to cede land taken by force, Musk suggested that it permanently cede the Crimea region to Russia, that new referendums be held under United Nations auspices to determine the fate of Russian-controlled territory, and that Ukraine agree to neutrality.
Ukraine-Russia Peace:
– Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.
– Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake).
– Water supply to Crimea assured.
– Ukraine remains neutral.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022 [twitter.com]
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among those who criticised Musk’s proposal. [aljazeera.com]
Ukraine’s outgoing ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, also condemned it in blunt terms. “F*** off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk,” he said on Twitter.
Responding to a post referring to the fate of the Starlink service and the ambassador’s remark, Musk said: “We’re just following his recommendation.”
The disruption of the service may have dire consequences for Ukraine. Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said this week Starlink services helped restore energy and communications infrastructure in critical areas after more than 100 Russian cruise missile attacks.
Encrypted satellite messages have been used for military communications after the local mobile phone network was severed during heavy shelling.
Musk was given the greenlight [aljazeera.com] by the US government to activate the satellite internet service Starlink to help Iranians protesting against the death of a woman in police custody.
The move follows deadly protests across Iran [aljazeera.com] following the death of Mahsa Amini [aljazeera.com], a 22-year-old who died after being detained by “morality police” over the way she was wearing her headscarf.
