Elon Musk settles SEC lawsuit over Twitter disclosures, fined $1.5M | Latest Tech News
Elon Musk settled the Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil lawsuit accusing the world’s richest individual of ready too long in 2022 to disclose his initial purchases of Twitter, now recognized as X.
A trust in Musk’s identify can pay a $1.5 million civil penalty, without admitting wrongdoing. Musk received’t have to give up any money he allegedly saved from the delay.
The settlement was disclosed on Monday in the Washington, DC, federal court. Lawyers for Musk didn’t immediately reply to requests for remark.
A trust in Elon Musk’s identify can pay a $1.5 million civil penalty, without admitting wrongdoing. Musk received’t have to give up any money he allegedly saved from the delay. AFP via Getty Images
In its January 2025 lawsuit, the SEC said Musk’s 11-day delay in revealing his initial 5% Twitter stake in late March and early April 2022 let him buy more than $500 million of shares at artificially low costs.
The SEC had argued that Musk ought to pay a civil tremendous and repay the $150 million he allegedly saved at the expense of unsuspecting buyers.
Musk called the delay inadvertent, and accused the SEC of violating his free speech rights by focusing on him.
He accomplished the $44 billion Twitter buy in October 2022.
Musk’s civil penalty is the most important in SEC historical past for the sort of violation he was accused of, a individual acquainted with the settlement said.
The SEC had argued that Musk ought to pay a civil tremendous and repay the $150 million he allegedly saved at the expense of unsuspecting buyers. He accomplished the $44 billion Twitter buy in 2022. AFP via Getty Images
The SEC’s effort to recoup the $150 million might have been powerful to show in court, people acquainted with the settlement said.
Musk has had a fraught relationship with the SEC, beginning in September 2018 when the regulator charged him with securities fraud for saying on Twitter he had “secured” funding to doubtlessly take his electric car company Tesla non-public.
He settled that case by paying a $20 million civil tremendous, letting Tesla legal professionals review some Twitter posts in advance, and giving up his position as Tesla’s chairman.
Monday’s settlement got here three months after US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan rejected Musk’s bid to dismiss the case. Both sides disclosed on March 17 they have been in talks to settle.
The SEC sued Musk six days before former President Joe Biden left the White House and was changed by Donald Trump. Current SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has been refocusing the regulator’s enforcement priorities.
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