Elon Musk has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after a years-long dispute with the regulator over the timing of his disclosure that he had acquired a significant stake in Twitter. Musk agreed to pay a $1.5 million fee without admitting wrongdoing in exchange for the SEC dropping its case, the regulator said.
If the settlement is approved by a court, it will bring to an end the drawn out battle over how he began his $44 billion takeover of Twitter in 2022. The SEC began investigating Musk that same year over his 11-day delay in disclosing that he had acquired a more than 5 percent stake in the company. That lag, the SEC argued in a lawsuit, ultimately saved Musk more than $150 million at the expense of Twitter shareholders.
During the course of its investigation, the SEC accused Musk of using “gamesmanship” to stall its probe as he repeatedly dodged the regulator’s subpoena. Musk, in turn, accused then-SEC chair Gary Gensler of “harassment.” Gensler left his post days after the lawsuit against Musk was filed as President Donald Trump took office.
The 1.5 million penalty is “the largest in SEC history for the type of violation he was accused of,” according to Reuters.