By Tom Hals and Sheila Dang
WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) -Elon Musk is under a federal investigation related to his $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter Inc (NYSE:), the social media company said in a court filing made public on Thursday.
Twitter said it requested for months that Musk’s attorneys produce their communications with federal authorities but they had not done so, and asked a Delaware judge to order the attorneys to provide the documents.
In late September, Musk’s attorneys provided a “privilege log” identifying documents to be withheld from discovery. The log referenced drafts of a May 13 email to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a slide presentation to the Federal Trade Commission, Twitter said.
“This game of ‘hide the ball’ must end,” the company said in the court filing.
An attorney for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twitter’s court request was filed on Oct. 6, the same day the Delaware judge halted the litigation to allow Twitter and Musk to close the takeover deal.
The SEC has questioned Musk’s comments about the Twitter acquisition. In April, the SEC asked Musk whether the disclosure of his 9% Twitter stake was late and why it indicated that he intended to be a passive shareholder. Musk later refiled the disclosure to indicate he was an active investor.
In June, the SEC asked Musk in a letter whether he should have amended his public filing to reflect his intention to suspend or abandon the deal.
The SEC and FTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
