Days after Twitter accepted his deal to buy the popular microblogging platform, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has actually set his sight on the U.S. Supreme Court. Elon signed onto an amicus brief that might prevent the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from providing gag orders, which avoid individuals who settle with the SEC without confessing fault from discussing their cases, the New York Times reported. It’s an interesting flex from the wealthiest man in the world to suddenly after leaping into the Political sphere by acquiring Twitter, launch into offering his considered opinions to the nation’s highest court.
More exclusive details of this report from The Daily Mail:
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.
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.
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.
“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 Tesla founder’s offer to acquire Twitter is not done.
There’s still a possibility that the Twitter offer does not take place, although Twitter settled on Monday to accept Musk’s deal to get the business.
Elon is supposedly on the hook to pay a $1 billion termination cost if the offer should fail, the filing from the Securities and Exchange Commission exposed. In one circumstance, the filing mentions that if the offer is not completed on or prior to October 24, 2022, the SEC filing states that Twitter “may terminate the Merger Agreement.”
In addition, it might likewise stop working if Twitter investors “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.”
Musk wrote in his current tweet that he wants to toe this line to get the offer completed, “By ‘free speech’, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.”
By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.
I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.
Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
Sources: Conservativebrief, DailyMail
