US Securities and Exchange Commission sues Elon Musk for not disclosing early Twitter stock purchase

The United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued billionaire Elon Musk, accusing him of failing to disclose his ownership of Twitter stock on time before buying the social media platform.

The SEC alleges that Musk was able to underpay by “at least $150 million” (€145.6 million) for shares he bought after he should have disclosed his ownership of more than 5% of Twitter’s shares.

Musk started buying Twitter shares in early 2022, and by March of that year, had already owned more than 5% of the company. The SEC says that at that point, the Tesla and SpaceX boss, by law, was required to disclose his ownership, but failed to do so under 4 April 2022, 11 days after the he was due to report.

Musk who fully acquired Twitter in October 2022 and later renamed it to X, has yet to publicly address the matter.

Musk signed a deal in April 2022 to acquire Twitter, but tried backing out of it, leading the company to sue him, forcing him to go through with the acquisition which cost the world’s richest man, according to Forbes, $44 billion (€42.7 billion).

The SEC says that starting in April 2022, it authorised an investigation into whether any securities laws were broken in connection with Musk’s purchasing of Twitter stocks, and his statements and SEC filings related to the company.

Before filing the lawsuit, the US securities watchdog went to court attempting to force Musk into testifying as part of an investigation into the matter.

The SEC’s current chairperson, Gary Gensler, is set to step down from his post on 20 January, with the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

It remains unclear whether the new administration – which Musk is part of after Trump selected him to lead a new ‘Government Efficiency’ department – will continue the lawsuit.