The U.S. considers security evaluations for transactions with Musk, including the purchase of Twitter.
People who know about the situation told Bloomberg News on Thursday that Biden Administration officials are discussing whether or not the United States should do a national review of some of Elon Musk’s projects, such as the deal for Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network.
On Twitter, SpaceX’s CEO recently proclaimed his company’s intention to end Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis. He also said that SpaceX couldn’t keep paying for Ukraine’s Starlink internet service. Later, he changed his mind and said he would pay for the service anyway.
According to sources who spoke to Bloomberg, discussions about reviewing Musk’s ventures are still in their early stages. The U.S. government is also considering how to assess Musk’s businesses.
The legislation governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reports to the U.S. Department of Treasury, is one approach to evaluating Musk’s commercial operations, claims the paper.
Bloomberg says that a CFIUS review could be prompted by the fact that foreign investors are part of Musk’s consortium. This is one part of the $44 billion Twitter deal that involves foreign investors.
In the group is Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange that started in Shanghai, as well as the Saudi Arabian businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
According to a U.S. Treasury Department official, CFIUS does not publicly comment on transactions that it may or may not be reviewing.
Reuters contacted Twitter and SpaceX for comment, but neither business promptly returned the request.
Musk said he would not go through with the purchase of Twitter in May, claiming the company had exaggerated the number of spam and bot accounts on the social media platform. Because of this, there were a lot of legal battles between the two sides.
Musk changed his mind earlier this month and said he would stick to the original terms of the agreement.
