NOS News•today, 05:19
The American stock market watchdog US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged billionaire Elon Musk. He allegedly did not announce in time in early 2022 that he owned Twitter shares before taking over the social medium.
According to the SEC, Musk was able to underpay “at least $150 million” for the shares he bought, even though he would have had to disclose that he already owned more than 5 percent of Twitter shares. The SEC demands that Musk repay the amount, plus a fine.
Musk started buying up Twitter shares in early 2022. In March of that year he owned more than 5 percent of the shares. According to the indictment, he was legally required to disclose his ownership at the time. He only did so on April 4, eleven days late.
Insecure
However, it is uncertain whether a lawsuit will actually result. The current chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, plans to resign on January 20, after which the administration of Donald Trump will take office, in which Musk will act as an advisor. Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro argues that the billionaire has done nothing wrong and that the SEC has been waging a ‘campaign’ against Musk for years.
Musk spent approximately $44 billion on the purchase of Twitter, which closed in October 2022. After the takeover, he changed the name of the medium to X.
