Source: Sharecast
The SEC's January 2025 lawsuit, filed six days before Joe Biden left the White House, alleged that Musk waited 11 days to disclose that he had built a 5% holding in Twitter in late March and early April 2022, allowing him to buy more than $500m in shares at what the regulator described as artificially low prices before eventually revealing a 9.2% stake.
The agency had sought a civil fine and repayment of the $150m it said he saved at the expense of other investors. However, a trust in Musk's name will pay judt $1.5m in civil penalties under the agreement, without admitting wrongdoing, and he will not be required to hand back any money the SEC said he saved by waiting to reveal his stake.
Musk claimed the delay had been inadvertent and he accused the SEC of infringing his free‑speech rights by pursuing the case.
Musk completed the $44bn takeover of Twitter, now known as X, in October 2022. He later folded the platform into his artificial intelligence company, xAI, before subsequently folding xAI into SpaceX.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com