Elon Musk made a remark about DOGE’s potential to reduce costs during a livestream with Stagwell Inc. CEO Mark Penn.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week filed a complaint against X, former owner of Twitter. Elon Musk on Twitter stock purchases he made in 2022.
Musk failed to timely disclose that he had purchased more than 5% of Twitter’s common stock in March of that year, the complaint says.
The SEC said this allowed Musk to continue buying Twitter stock at an artificially low price, and that he underpaid by $150 million.
An SEC rule requires investors who own more than 5% of a stock to disclose their stake within 10 days, but the agency claimed in the complaint that Musk did not make the disclosure until 11 days after the date limit, while he already held 9%. .
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week filed a complaint against former Twitter owner Elon Musk for purchases of Twitter stock he made in 2022. (by Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Shares on Twitter immediately rose after its revelation.
Musk started buying Twitter in April 2022, finalize the sale in October.
He paid $44 billion for the social media platform.
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Musk failed to timely disclose that he had purchased more than 5% of Twitter’s common stock in March of that year, the complaint says. (Photo illustration: Muhammed Selim Korkutata / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
His lawyer, Alex Spiro, told FOX Business in a statement: “Today’s action is an admission by the SEC that it cannot bring a real lawsuit – because Mr. Musk has nothing done wrong and everyone sees this deception for what it is.”
He added: “As the SEC withdraws and leaves office, the SEC’s years-long campaign of harassment against Mr. Musk has culminated in the filing of a unique complaint against Mr. Musk under Section 13(d) for an alleged administrative problem. failure to file a single form – an offense which, even if proven, carries a nominal penalty.
This is the third lawsuit filed by the SEC against Trump. Their first involved a tweet Musk posted in 2018, falsely claiming he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 a share. As part of the deal, he was forced to step down as chairman of Tesla.
The SEC also sued Musk in 2023 to try to compel him to testify about his Twitter purchases, which he did a year later.
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The ongoing lawsuit will also likely be one of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s final acts in office as the Trump administration takes office in less than a week.
Reuters contributed to this report.
