A mid reports that Elon Musk is on the brink of securing his takeover of Twitter, the billionaire has used the social media platform to launch an attack on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) The Tesla tycoon described employees at the San Francisco office of the regulator as "shameless puppets of Wall St shortseller sharks". The comments are a reference to a dispute between Mr Musk and the SEC following his claim on Twitter that he'd secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share. Mr Musk and Tesla were both fined $20m and he lost his position as chairman of the company. But the world's richest man has now doubled down on his defence, insisting the head of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund had "committed unequivocally" to take Tesla private.