Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve a US government lawsuit alleging he violated stock market disclosure rules during his acquisition of Twitter in 2022.
Under the agreement, filed in a federal court in Washington, Musk’s trust will pay the penalty, pending judicial approval. The case stems from claims that Musk failed to meet a legal deadline requiring investors to disclose when they acquire more than five percent of a publicly traded company.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had alleged that Musk exceeded the reporting deadline by 11 days while building his stake in Twitter, allowing him to continue purchasing shares at lower prices. Regulators estimated that the delay may have enabled savings of up to $150 million.
Despite those allegations, the settlement does not require Musk to return any of the purported gains. Instead, the agreement includes the $1.5 million fine and a commitment not to violate similar disclosure rules in the future, without any admission of wrongdoing.
Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, described the outcome as a vindication, maintaining that his client had done nothing wrong. He said the case against Musk had been dismissed, with the fine attributed solely to a delayed filing by a trust entity.
The SEC said it had amended its complaint to include the trust as a defendant and would drop Musk personally from the case if the court approves the agreement, effectively bringing the matter to a close.
The lawsuit was initially filed shortly before former US President Joe Biden left office. Musk, who has been politically aligned with President Donald Trump, had sought to have the case dismissed earlier, but a federal judge rejected that request in February.
The development follows a separate legal challenge in California, where a jury in March found that Musk had misled investors during the turbulent Twitter takeover. Damages in that case could reach as high as $2 billion, although his legal team has indicated plans to appeal.
