SEC Sues Elon Musk For Undisclosed Twitter Share Buy

SEC Sues Elon Musk For Undisclosed Acquisition Of Twitter Shares As Gary Gensler Prepares To Step Down

Updated: 15 January 2025

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued technology billionaire and SpaceX founder Elon Musk for allegedly failing to disclose the acquisition of some Twitter shares,

The action came as anti-crypto SEC Chair Gary Gensler prepares to step down on Jan. 20.

According to a Jan. 14 filing in a Washington, DC, federal court, Musk failed to disclose that “he had acquired beneficial ownership” of Twitter in 2022. This alleged omission enabled him to keep buying shares in the social media company “at artificially low prices” and “underpay by at least $150 million,” the agency said in its filing.

DOGE Pumps 4% As Elon Musk Calls The SEC A “Totally Broken Organization”

This is not the first lawsuit against the technology mogul. In June 2022, a lawsuit brought forward by investors against Musk accused him of insider trading with respect to leading meme coin Dogecoin (DOGE).

This was after Musk started posting pictures of the meme coin online, causing the crypto’s price to periodically pump and earn him the nickname “Dogefather.”

In August 2024, the Southern District of New York court dismissed an amended complaint with prejudice, marking the end of the lawsuit. Musk, who now owns X (formerly Twitter) after acquiring the company for $44 billion in April of 2022, responded to the latest lawsuit by the SEC in a Jan. 15 post, calling the regulator a “totally broken organization.”

Totally broken organization.

They spend their time on shit like this when there are so many actual crimes that go unpunished.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2025

DOGE pumped more than 4% following the post to trade at $0.3611 as of 8:09 a.m. EST.

Gensler Prepares To Leave The SEC

The SEC’s lawsuit comes as outgoing Chair Gensler prepares to leave the agency on Jan. 20. His departure date coincides with Donald Trump’s inauguration date.

Musk is expected to advise the incoming president on how to make the government more financially efficient. Trump has already proposed the setting up of a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and said that Musk will lead the department alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.