Elon Musk has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a long-running dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over how he disclosed his stake in Twitter. The settlement still needs court approval and would close a case that dates back to the early days of Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the platform in 2022.
The issue began when Musk bought a stake of more than 5 per cent in Twitter. According to the rules, such a stake must be disclosed within a specific timeframe. However, the SEC said Musk delayed this disclosure by 11 days. According to the regulator, this delay helped him save more than $150 million at the expense of Twitter shareholders.
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Instead of continuing the legal fight, Musk has chosen to settle the case by paying the fine without admitting any wrongdoing. The settlement was disclosed on Monday in the Washington, D.C., federal court.
During its investigation, the regulator accused Musk of using ‘gamesmanship’ to slow down the probe and avoid complying with its requests, including subpoenas. On the other hand, Musk pushed back strongly and accused then-SEC chair Gary Gensler of ‘harassment.’ Gensler stepped down from his role shortly after the lawsuit was filed, as Donald Trump took office.
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According to Reuters, the $1.5 million penalty is ‘the largest in SEC history for the type of violation he was accused of.’ If approved, the settlement will finally bring an end to the dispute, allowing Musk to move past one more legal challenge.
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