Elon Musk is reportedly under investigation by federal authorities over his $44 billion deal with Twitter, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.
“Elon Musk is presently under investigation by federal authorities for his conduct in connection with the acquisition of Twitter,” attorneys wrote in the Oct. 6 filing that was made public Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
NEW: Elon Musk is being investigated by federal authorities related to his attempted acquisition of Twitter, lawyers on behalf of the social-media company wrote in a court filing in Delaware https://t.co/lxTp7KcPCK
— Bloomberg (@business) October 13, 2022
The same day as the request was filed, the court granted a stay of litigation for Musk to close the deal with Twitter, according to CTV News.
“Through counsel, he has exchanged substantive correspondence with those authorities concerning their investigations,” the attorneys wrote, according to Bloomberg. Twitter wants those documents, because they bear upon key issues in this litigation.” (RELATED: Twitter Sues Elon Musk For Pulling Out Of $44 Billion Deal)
Twitter is also reportedly hoping to obtain communications between Musk and the Federal Trade Commission, according to Financial Times.
The social media giant previously requested Musk’s attorneys to hand over correspondence between Musk and federal authorities but they reportedly refused, according to Reuters. This prompted Twitter to file a request with the court Oct. 6 for the information.
Musk initially offered to purchase Twitter for $54.20 per share in April. However, Musk later tried to back out of the deal before agreeing to go through with the it Oct. 4, according to the New York Times.
A Securities and Exchange (SEC) filing from April showed that Musk was prohibited from tweeting disparaging remarks about Twitter during the acquisition.