The American Securities and Markets Regulatory Authority (SEC) filed a complaint on Tuesday January 14 against Elon Musk for not having disclosed “in a timely manner” a purchase of Twitter shares in March 2022, before taking control of the platform .
“Elon Musk failed to timely file with the SEC […] its acquisition of more than 5% of Twitter’s outstanding common shares in March 2022,” the SEC said in its complaint, “which allowed it to pay an artificially low price.” Still according to the American stock market watchdog, this omission would have allowed the boss of Tesla and SpaceX “not to pay at least $150 million for shares that he purchased after the expiry of his declaration of beneficial ownership” of Twitter.
“Today’s proceedings are an admission by the SEC that it does not have a strong enough case – because Elon Musk did nothing wrong,” responded Alex Spiro, his lawyer, to of the AFP. Elon Musk finalized the takeover of Twitter in October 2022, after some hesitation. He later renamed the network X.
Not the first complaint
The SEC had already filed a complaint in October 2024 against Elon Musk, now a close ally of Donald Trump, to force him to testify as part of its investigation into the acquisition. She indicated that he had not shown up for a hearing whose date had already been moved several times. The billionaire’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, assured that his client’s testimony had already been collected “several times as part of this misguided investigation” and estimated that “enough is enough”.
The prevarications and attacks during the months leading up to the takeover, as well as the decisions of the new owner thereafter, sparked numerous controversies, and led to various legal actions, from investors, former employees and companies that had contracts with Twitter. Shareholders had already filed a complaint against Elon Musk, accusing him of having disclosed his 5% stake in Twitter too late.