The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued Elon Musk, accusing him of failing to disclose his 5% stake in Twitter within the required 10-day period, allowing him to purchase shares at “artificially low prices” and save $150 million. The lawsuit claims Musk delayed his disclosure by 21 days. In response, Musk criticised the SEC on social media, calling it a “totally broken organisation.”
Elon Musk has accused the SEC of wasting its time on his case while ignoring more serious crimes. The SEC’s lawsuit claims his delay in disclosing his Twitter stake caused significant harm to investors. Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, called the lawsuit a “sham” and “harassment.” Following Musk’s public purchase of Twitter shares in April 2022, Twitter’s share price rose by over 27%. Musk later acquired the platform for $44 billion in October 2022 and rebranded it as X. The SEC is seeking to have Musk return “unjust” profits and pay a fine. This lawsuit follows previous SEC conflicts with Musk, including a 2018 charge over fraudulent claims about Tesla’s privatization.
