According to court filings in Washington, D.C., a trust in Musk’s name will pay a $1.5 million civil penalty under the agreement disclosed on Monday. The settlement does not require Musk to admit wrongdoing, nor does it force him to forfeit the estimated $150 million in savings the SEC claims he gained by delaying the disclosure.
The case stems from Musk’s purchase of Twitter shares in early 2022. The SEC alleged that he waited 11 days beyond the required deadline to disclose that he had acquired more than a 5% stake in the company. During that period, regulators said, Musk was able to buy additional shares at lower prices before revealing a 9.2% holding to the public.
Musk’s legal team maintained that the delay was inadvertent and argued that the regulator’s actions infringed on his rights. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, said the settlement confirms that Musk has now been cleared of issues related to the filing delay.
The agreement still requires approval from U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who had earlier rejected Musk’s attempt to dismiss the case.
This settlement marks the latest chapter in a long-running and often contentious relationship between Musk and the SEC, dating back to 2018 when the regulator charged him with securities fraud over statements about taking Tesla private. That earlier case was resolved with a $20 million fine and governance changes at Tesla.
Some former regulators criticized the latest outcome as too lenient, while legal analysts said the penalty, though modest relative to Musk’s wealth, reinforces that disclosure rules apply broadly across markets.
Separately, Musk continues to face legal challenges tied to his Twitter acquisition, including a shareholder lawsuit in which a jury found him liable for misleading investors, claims his legal team is seeking to overturn.
Musk completed the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, later integrating it into his artificial intelligence venture xAI as part of a broader restructuring of his business interests.
