Elon Musk failed to persuade a federal judge from Washington, DC, to move a demand for the stock exchange and values for its late revelation of his growing participation in Twitter to Texas, after saying that he was too busy to defend himself in the capital of the nation.
The US district judge Sparkle Sooknanan said Thursday that “it takes seriously the convenience of Mr. Musk”, but the richest person in the world has “considerable means” and spends at least 40% of his time out of Texas.
“In fact,” he wrote, “Mr. Musk’s summary indicates that a substantial time has spent this year,” when he directed the Government’s efficiency department.
Sooknanan also said that Texas judges have larger cases than in their court, and that she could proceed with “reasonable prolongation.”
When trying to move the case, Musk said he was an incredibly busy individual “who works more than 80 hours of weeks often sleep in the office or factory, and that litigating in Washington would impose” substantial charges. “
Musk’s lawyers did not immediately respond to comments requests. A SEC spokesman did not comment, citing the closure of the government. Musk’s fortune exceeded $ 500 billion for the first time on Wednesday.
The SEC demanded Musk in January, saying that its 11 -day delay in revealing its initial 5% participation on Twitter in early 2022 allowed you to buy more than $ 500 million of shares at artificially low prices.
He wants Musk to pay a civil fine and resign from $ 150 million that he allegedly saved at the expense of offstrolled investors. Musk seeks to dismiss the case. He bought all Twitter for $ 44 billion in October 2022 and renamed it X.
Musk lives in Austin, and his companies Tesla, Spacex and Boring Tunnel Business are based in Texas.
Sooknanan rejected Musk’s alternative proposal to transfer the case of the SEC to Manhattan, where Twitter shareholders are demanding it.
