By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) -Elon Musk failed to persuade a Washington, D.C. federal judge to move a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over his late disclosure of his growing Twitter stake to Texas, after saying he was too busy to defend himself in the nation's capital.
U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said on Thursday she "takes Mr. Musk's convenience seriously," but the world's richest person has "considerable means" and spends at least 40% of his time outside Texas.
"Indeed," she
wrote, "Mr. Musk's brief itself indicates that he has spent substantial time here this year," when he ran the Department of Government Efficiency.
Sooknanan also said Texas judges have bigger caseloads than in her court, and she could proceed with "reasonable alacrity."
In seeking to move the case, Musk said he was an "incredibly busy individual" who works 80-plus hour weeks and often sleeps in the office or factory, and that litigating in Washington would impose "substantial burdens."
Lawyers for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the SEC had no comment, citing the government shutdown. Musk's fortune surpassed $500 billion for the first time on Wednesday.
The SEC sued Musk in January, saying his 11-day delay in revealing his initial 5% Twitter stake in early 2022 let him buy more than $500 million of shares at artificially low prices.
It wants Musk to pay a civil fine and give up $150 million he allegedly saved at the expense of unsuspecting investors. Musk is seeking to dismiss the case. He bought all of 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 move the SEC case to Manhattan, where former Twitter shareholders are suing him.
The case is SEC v Musk, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, No. 25-00105.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Marguerita Choy)
