Elon Musk has agreed to settle a US Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over his delayed disclosure of early Twitter stock purchases, with a trust in his name set to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty.
The settlement was disclosed Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C. It would resolve the SEC’s civil case accusing Musk of waiting too long in 2022 to reveal that he had built an initial stake in Twitter, now known as X. The agreement needs court approval. Musk does not admit wrongdoing and will not return the money the SEC alleged he saved.
The SEC sued Musk in January 2025, alleging that he delayed by 11 days in disclosing his initial 5% Twitter stake in late March and early April 2022. The regulator said the delay allowed Musk to buy more than $500 million worth of Twitter shares at “artificially low prices” before he disclosed a 9.2% stake.
The SEC had sought repayment of the $150 million it alleged Musk saved at the expense of investors who sold shares before his disclosure. Musk called the delay inadvertent and accused the agency of targeting him in violation of his free speech rights.
His lawyer, Alex Spiro, said the outcome cleared Musk. “Mr. Musk has now been cleared of all issues related to the late filing of forms in the Twitter acquisition, as we said from the outset he would be,” Spiro said. He also called it “a small fine for being late on one filing.”
Musk completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter in October 2022 and later renamed the platform X.
The settlement adds to Musk’s clashes with the SEC. It comes as he seeks to overturn a separate California verdict finding him liable in March over claims that he misled shareholders before the buyout.
