The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday said it was suing tech billionaire, Elon Musk.
It alleged that Musk failed to disclose in a timely manner, his ownership of more than five per cut of Twitter stakes ahead of taking over the company in 2022.
The SEC alleged that Musk began buying up Twitter shares in early 2022, and crossed the five per cut mark on March 14, 2022.
By law, he should have disclosed this fact publicly within 10 calendar days but he didn’t announce that he already held nine per cent of the company until April 4, 11 days too late, the SEC said.
According to SEC filing, the Twitter’s share price had jumped by 27 per cent following the disclosure.
The agency analysed Musk’s purchases and concluded that he “underpaid by at least 150 million dollars for his purchases of Twitter common stock in this period.’’
Shareholders who sold him their shares during this time would have suffered financial losses, the suit alleged.
The SEC had demanded that Musk repaid the sum plus an additional penalty.
Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, countered that the tech billionaire had “done nothing wrong.’’
A statement to the financial service Bloomberg, also spoke of a multi-year campaign of harassment by the SEC against Musk.
It was unclear how the lawsuit would proceed.
Musk is a close confidant of Donald Trump, who would be sworn in as the next U.S. president on Jan. 20.
The administration changeover would also mean a change of leadership in the SEC.
The current chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, had already announced that he would be resigning from the post.
Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 for 44 billion dollars. He then renamed the online platform X. (dpa/NAN)
