Elon Musk failed to persuade a Washington, DC 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.

US 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.

Sarah Jessica Parker is opening up about the decision to end “And Just Like That,” HBO’s “Sex and the City” revival, while continuing her passion for publishing through SJP Lit, her book imprint known for championing novels “with a big heart.”

During an appearance on “CBS Mornings,” Parker said ending the beloved series was a difficult decision and that she spoke it about it with “And Just Like That” creator Michael Patrick King.

“I think it’s out of respect for this really singular professional experience that you have to consider what you want to do, have you done it, and sometimes it’s best to gracefully walk away when things feel really right and energetic, versus squeezing and exploiting people’s generosity and hospitality,” she said. 

Parker suggested the door might not be completely closed. 

“I’m not certain I understand that decision means, because I could just be on hiatus,” she said.

Parker’s book club selection

The actor and publisher shifted the conversation to her latest literary selection, “I Am You” by Victoria Redel, a historical novel set in 1600s Amsterdam that follows two female artists navigating their careers and a secret romance.

Parker said she “fell in love with this book” immediately, praising Redel as a “supremely talented author.” The novel centers on Maria van Oosterwijck and her assistant, the younger painter Gerta Pieters — based on real historical figures about whom little is known.

“The fact that these two women, the subjects of this extraordinary story, are in fact real people that very little is known about,” Parker said. “You have an author who is just incredibly skillful at taking fact and history and making this surprising, sensuous, atmospheric, dramatic, wholly unexpected story come to life.”

The novel explores themes of ambition, power, devotion and transformation as a maid becomes a painter under her mistress’s tutelage, eventually surpassing her teacher, hence the title “I Am You.”

“What happens when you step into your own authority, your own sense of self, and that sounds like a beautiful thing and it is a beautiful thing,” Redel said. “But it’s also a messy thing.”