Elon Musk and the US Securities and Exchange Commission settled the civil lawsuit the SEC filed last year, accusing the billionaire of delaying disclosures tied to the initial purchase of stock in what was formerly known as Twitter. Filings were signed by attorneys backing both the SEC and the Tesla CEO on Monday (US time).
The official document further affirmed that a trust in the name of the world’s richest person will be paying a civil penalty of $1.5 million to US federal government agency as part of the settlement.
Settlement vindicates Elon Musk, says his attorney
Responding to the settlement, Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro said in a statement, “Mr. Musk has now been cleared of all issues related to the late filing of forms in the Twitter acquisition, as we said from the outset he would be,” as quoted by Reuters.
SEC’s yesteryear lawsuit accused Musk of dragging out the disclosure of his initial 5% Twitter stake in late March and early April 2022. The agency argued that the 11-day delay allowed the Tesla CEO to buy more than $500 million of shares at what it called “artificially low prices” before his 9.2% stake was finally revealed.
Elon Musk vs SEC
The agency’s original plan of a civil fine imposition entailed compelling Musk to replay the $150 million he allegedly saved in the process, while also supposedly slipping under the radar of unsuspecting investors. Musk, on his part, hit back at SEC for overreaching, calling the disclosure delay unintentionally. He even fiercely accused the commission of violating his free speech rights.
Musk, who has a net worth of about $790 billion, bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022. He later changed its name to X, ultimately merging it with his AI company, xAI, and subsequently SpaceX in 2026 as well.
In a separate case, a California federal court jury found earlier this year that Musk had misled Twitter investors before taking over Twitter. Musk is simultaneously also embroiled in a legal action with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The case dates back to Musk’s 2024 lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman and the company’s president, Greg Brockman, as the SpaceX boss accused them of not standing by their promises to keep the startup a nonprofit.