US sues Elon Musk for allegedly failing to disclose early Twitter stock purchase
Source: The Guardian
Tue 14 Jan 2025 18.40 EST
Last modified on Tue 14 Jan 2025 18.44 EST
A US financial regulator has sued Elon Musk for allegedly failing to disclose his ownership of Twitter stock and later acquiring shares in the company at “artificially low prices”, stiffing other shareholders.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit against Musk late on Tuesday in Washington DC federal court for alleged securities violations. According to the suit,
Musk did not disclose that he had acquired a 5% stake in the company in a timely manner, which allowed him “to underpay by at least $150 million for shares he purchased after his financial beneficial ownership report was due”.
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, told Bloomberg that the SEC’s case amounted to “an admission” that the agency had no case. Musk, Spiro said, “has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is”.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/14/us-elon-musk-twitter-stock-purchase-lawsuit
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LeftInTX
(32,175 posts)I hope I'm wrong.
BoRaGard
(3,927 posts)![](/emoticons/hurts.gif)
Haggard Celine
(17,087 posts)![](/emoticons/bounce.gif)
highplainsdem
(53,768 posts)The SEC wants Musk to pay a civil fine and disgorge profits he was not entitled to.
-snip-
An SEC rule requires investors like Musk to disclose within 10 calendar days when they cross a 5% ownership threshold.
The SEC said Musk did not disclose his stake until April 4, 2022, 11 days after the deadline, by which time he owned more than 9% of Twitter's shares.
-snip-
C0RI0LANUS
(2,790 posts)Source:
https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26219
![](https://grinsane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/elon-musk-twitter-editorial-cartoon.jpg)
Clouds Passing
(3,524 posts)![](/emoticons/mad.gif)
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LetMyPeopleVote
(157,831 posts)This will be fun to watch
Link to tweet
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/14/sec-sues-musk-alleges-failure-to-properly-disclose-twitter-ownership.html
Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, purchased Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and changed the name to X the following year. Prior to the acquisition, he’d built up a position in the company of greater than 5%, which would’ve required disclosing his holdings to the public within 10 calendar days of reaching that threshold.
According to the SEC’s civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Musk was more than 10 days late in reporting that material information, “allowing him to underpay by at least $150 million for shares he purchased after his financial beneficial ownership report was due.” Investors may have bid up the stock had they known about Musk’s purchases and interest in the company.
The SEC had been investigating whether Musk, or anyone else working with him, committed securities fraud in 2022 around the Twitter disclosures. Musk said in a post on X last month that the SEC issued a “settlement demand,” pressuring him to agree to a deal, including a fine within 48 hours or “face charges on numerous counts” regarding the purchase of shares.
LetMyPeopleVote
(157,831 posts)Part of the Securities laws is that one can not buy more than 5% of the stock of a company with intent to take that company over without filing a notice when you go over 5% ownership. This alerts the market and other stockholders about a pending takeover attempt. By ignoring this law, Musk was able to buy more shares and save himself money
Link to tweet
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GhVg1GjW4AAcvuG.jpg)
Musk cheated shareholders who sold their shares to him after Musk was supposed to disclose his stock ownership. Musk cheated these shareholders