Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
A U.S. markets organization has sued Elon Musk, alleging he failed to disclose that he had accumulated a stake in Twitter that allowed him to buy shares at “artificially low prices.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claim claims the multi-billionaire Tesla boss saved $150m (£123m) on the stock purchase as a result.
Under SEC rules, investors with a stake above 5% have 10 days to report that they have exceeded that threshold. Musk did so 21 days after the purchase, according to the statement.
In a message on social networksMusk called the SEC “a completely broken organization.”
He also accused the regulator of wasting time when “there are so many real crimes that go unpunished”.
“Mask’s breach resulted in significant economic harm to investors”, the SEC complaint said.
In a statement emailed to BBC News, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, described the lawsuit as a “fraud” and a “harassment campaign” against his client.
Twitter’s stock price rose more than 27% after Musk announced the purchase of shares on April 4, 2022, the SEC said.
In October 2022, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and has since changed the name of the platform to X.
The complaint was filed by the SEC in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.
The lawsuit also asked the court to order Musk to give up “unfair” profits and pay a fine.
SEC chief Gary Gensler announced in November that he would step down when Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20.
It came after Trump said he planned to fire Mr. Gensler on “day one” of his new administration.
Under Mr. Gensler’s leadership, the SEC has clashed with Musk, who is a close ally of the president-elect.
But Musk had run-ins with the SEC long before Mr. Gensler took over.
In 2018, the regulator accused Musk of defrauding investors by claiming he had “secured financing” to take Tesla, the electric car company he heads, private.
He later pleaded guilty to the charges, stepping down as chairman of the firm’s board and agreeing to accept what was described as a “Twitter sit-in” – restrictions on what he could post on social media about the company.
