Elon Musk settles lawsuit over late Twitter share disclosure

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the late disclosure of his share purchases in the social media company X.

According to a joint filing submitted by the SEC and Musk’s lawyers to a district court in Washington, D.C., the parties have reached a settlement agreement, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.

The filing states that Musk neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations but agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty to resolve the case. The settlement still requires court approval to take effect.

Lawsuit details

The SEC filed the lawsuit in January last year, alleging that Musk violated federal securities laws by failing to timely disclose his purchase of more than 5% of Twitter shares in March 2022.

According to the complaint, the delayed disclosure allowed Musk to continue buying shares at lower prices, allegedly enabling him to underpay by at least $150 million.

The SEC also argued that during the delay, investors sold their Twitter shares at artificially low prices and suffered significant financial losses. The regulator had asked the court to impose a fine and require Musk to return any unjust profits from the transactions.