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Judge finds sanctions would not be meaningful

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Musk missed court-ordered testimony for SpaceX launch

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SEC probing Musk's $44 billion Twitter takeover

(Adds details from decision, SEC and Musk arguments,

background, case citation, byline)

By Jonathan Stempel

Nov 22 (Reuters) -

A federal judge on Friday rejected the U.S. Securities and

Exchange Commission's request to sanction Elon Musk after he

failed to appear for court-ordered testimony for the regulator's

probe into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco

said sanctions over Musk's Sept. 10 absence were unnecessary,

after the world's richest person testified on Oct. 3 and agreed

to pay the SEC's $2,923 of travel costs.

"Because the present circumstances forestall any

occasion for meaningful relief that the court could grant, the

SEC's request is moot," Corley wrote.

The SEC had sought a declaration that Musk violated a

May 31 court order to provide testimony.

It said having only to repay travel costs would not

deter many other people from ignoring court orders, "much less

someone of Musk's extraordinary means."

Musk said he complied with the order by testifying on

Oct. 3. He is worth $321.7 billion according to Forbes magazine.

The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for

comment after business hours. Lawyers for Musk did not

immediately respond to similar requests.

Musk, whose businesses include electric car maker Tesla

and rocket company SpaceX and who is the world's

richest person, went to Florida's Cape Canaveral on Sept. 10 to

oversee the launch of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission.

The SEC is

investigating

whether Musk violated securities laws in early 2022 by

waiting at least 10 days too long to disclose he had begun

accumulating Twitter stock.

Critics and some investors have said this let him buy

shares cheaply before he eventually disclosed a 9.2% Twitter

stake, and shortly thereafter offered to buy the whole company.

In July, Musk said he misunderstood SEC disclosure rules

and that "all indications" suggested he made a "mistake."

The SEC also sued Musk in 2018 over his Twitter posts

about taking Tesla private. He settled that lawsuit by paying a

$20 million fine, agreeing to let Tesla lawyers review some

posts in advance and stepping down as Tesla's chairman.

The case is SEC v Musk, U.S. District Court, Northern

District of California, No. 23-mc-80253.