A judge just denied Elon Musk's attempt to have the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit that he is facing moved out of Washington, D.C.

The Hill reports that U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan released her decision on the removal motion last Thursday.

This, obviously, is not good for Musk, but it was not unexpected.

JUST IN: Judge Sparkle Sooknanan shoots down Elon Musk's bid to transfer the SEC case against him to Texas or New York.

"The Court takes Mr. Musk’s convenience seriously, but it also notes that Mr. Musk has considerable means and spends at least forty percent of his time… pic.twitter.com/ii2zOqXZBK

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) October 2, 2025

Background

This all has to do with Musk's alleged failure to disclose his Twitter stake.

Twitter, of course, is now called X, and Musk owns it. But, the case has to do with actions that Musk took before he acquired the company.

The Hill provides an overview of the situation, writing, "The SEC sued Musk in January, accusing him of violating securities laws by failing to disclose his growing stake in the platform in early 2022, before purchasing the company."

The outlet continues:

Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, did not disclose when his stake in the company exceeded 5 percent as required by law. He filed the forms a little more than a week later, by which point he owned more than 9 percent of shares. The SEC alleges the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was able to continue purchasing stock at “artificially low prices” and underpaid investors by more than $150 million.

This case has already been going on for several years, and it does not appear to be coming to an end anytime soon.

The latest

As stated at the outset, Judge Sooknanan has now denied the removal motion filed by Musk's legal team.

"The Court takes Mr. Musk’s convenience seriously, but it also notes that Mr. Musk has considerable means and spends at least forty percent of his time outside his chosen forum," Bloomberg News quotes Sooknanan as writing.

The judge added, "Indeed, although Mr. Musk may have ‘rarely’ traveled to this District in recent months, Mr. Musk’s brief itself indicates that he has spent substantial time here this year."

It is unclear where the case will go from, including whether or not Musk's legal team will appeal Sooknanan's decision on the removal motion.

Bloomberg notes that Musk's legal team argued that "Forcing Mr. Musk to litigate in this district would merely perpetuate and compound the harm from the SEC’s years-long campaign against him."