SAN FRANCISCO, May 14 (Reuters) -

A federal court ordered on Tuesday that Elon Musk must

testify again in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's

investigation into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.

The SEC sued Musk in October to compel the CEO of electric

carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX to testify

after he refused to attend a September interview for the

investigation. The billionaire said the SEC was trying to

"harass" him with a number of subpoenas.

The investigation concerns whether Musk broke federal

securities laws in 2022 when he bought stock in Twitter, which

he later renamed X. It is also reviewing statements and SEC

filings he made in relation to the deal, the agency has

previously said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in February ruled in

favor of the agency to compel the deposition and Musk requested

a review of the decision.

"As Judge Beeler explained, the investigations Musk

contends constitute harassment are 'legitimate government

investigations'," U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley

said on Tuesday.

"Musk has not met his burden of demonstrating the

subpoena is unreasonable."

This marks the latest dispute in a years-long feud

between Musk and the top U.S. markets regulator, dating back to

2018 when he tweeted that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla

private.

In 2022, Musk supplied the SEC with documents for its probe

and also testified via videoconference for two half-day sessions

in July of that year, the SEC has said in court documents.

Agency lawyers have said they have more questions for Musk after

receiving new documents, and had sought additional testimony.

Musk was not immediately available for comment.