The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Tuesday local time, accusing the billionaire of securities fraud in 2022, failing to promptly disclose his existing stake in Twitter, and continuing to purchase stocks at "artificially low prices."
Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 and later renamed the social network X. Prior to the acquisition, his stake in Twitter exceeded 5%, which was required to be disclosed to the public.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's charges, Musk purchased more than 9% of Twitter's common shares in March 2022, but failed to disclose relevant information in a timely manner, violating federal securities laws. After an 11-day delay, Musk publicly disclosed his beneficial ownership in a report submitted to the SEC on April 4, 2022. The delay allowed him to continue buying Twitter stock at artificially low prices, thereby underpaying at least $150 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating whether Musk or others working with him committed securities fraud in 2022, when the Tesla CEO sold stock in his car company ahead of a leveraged buyout and increased his stake in Twitter. Musk said in a post on