Elon Musk sued by the American stock market watchdog over his buyback of Twitter shares

The American Financial Markets Regulatory Authority (SEC) filed a complaint on Tuesday, January 14, against Elon Musk in connection with the billionaire’s repurchase of Twitter shares in 2022, before taking control of the platform.

“Elon Musk failed to timely report to the SEC (…) his acquisition of more than 5% of Twitter’s outstanding common stock in March 2022”the SEC said in its complaint, “which allowed him 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 he purchased after his beneficial ownership declaration was due” of Twitter (now X).

“Today’s proceedings are an admission by the SEC that it does not have a strong enough case because Mr. Musk did nothing wrong”reacted Alex Spiro, Elon Musk’s lawyer, to Agence France-Presse.

Mr. Musk finalized the takeover of Twitter in October 2022, after some hesitation. He later renamed the network X.

The SEC had already filed a complaint in October 2024 against Elon Musk to force him to testify as part of an investigation into the acquisition of Twitter, one of the many legal proceedings linked to this controversial takeover, and had declared that -he had not shown up for an audition whose date had already been moved several times. A federal judge then ordered the billionaire to explain himself to the SEC in February 2024.

Several legal actions

Alex Spiro assured that his client’s testimony had already been collected “on several occasions as part of this misguided investigation”adding “too much 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, after the deadline set by the SEC.

Elon Musk is a close ally of Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on Monday. He contributed more than $270 million to the Republican’s campaign, and actively supported him, on X and in person at political rallies.

Shortly after his victory, Donald Trump appointed Elon Musk to head a commission to “governmental efficiency”in order to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excessive regulations, cut unnecessary spending and restructure federal agencies”.