Twitter Owner And Tesla CEO Elon Musk Goes After The SEC Over Gag Order; Plans To Take The Case To The Supreme Court

It was recently reported by ConservativeBrief that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has his sights on the U.S. Supreme Court days after Twitter accepted his offer to purchase the social media company.

The New York Times reports that Musk signed onto an amicus brief that could prevent the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from issuing gag orders, which prevent people who settle with the SEC without admitting fault from discussing their cases.

“He signed a supporting petition filed by Barry Romeril, a former chief financial officer for Xerox, asking the Supreme Court to negate a 2003 deal in which he agreed to always stay silent about the fraud case against him,” the Daily Mail reported.

“Romeril had been one of six executives at Xerox who settled allegations of inflating the company’s earnings by $1.4 million in the late 1990s. As part of his deal with the federal regulators, Romeril had agreed not to deny the allegations against him and was permanently barred from serving as an officer of a public company,” the report continued.

“He has since argued to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that the requirement he stays silent about the case violates his First Amendment right and no act of Congress authorizes such a sweeping restriction on freedom of speech. The appeals court, however, disagreed, with Judge Denny Chin writing last year that Romeril waived his right to deny the allegations when he agreed to the settlement,” the Daily Mail added.

“Now, Romeril is once again appealing the case – this time to the Supreme Court with the help of other business executives like Musk, who has also found himself in the SEC’s crosshairs following a 2018 agreement that censored what he could tweet,” the report said.

This comes as Twitter agreed to accept Musk’s offer to acquire the social media company.

Musk’s deal to purchase Twitter is not done yet.

Although Twitter agreed on Monday to accept Musk’s offer to acquire the company, there’s still a possibility that the deal doesn’t happen.

A Securities and Exchange Commission filing related to the purchase shows Musk is on the hook to pay a $1 billion termination fee should the deal fall through.

In one instance, the filing states that if the deal is not finalized on or before October 24, 2022, the SEC filing stipulates that Twitter “may terminate the Merger Agreement.”

Additionally, it could also fail if Twitter stockholders “fail to adopt the Merger Agreement.”

This could only happen under “limited circumstances,” including if a third party other than Musk decides to offer “a competing acquisition proposal that constitutes a Superior Proposal.”

“The board has to act as fiduciary, so if a higher price comes, they need to consider it,” an unnamed former investment banker told The Epoch Times regarding the deal.

“But if a higher price does come, Musk can always up his offer. Practically speaking though, there are no other potential buyers right now,” it states.