Elon Musk made the remark about DOGE’s potential to cut costs during a livestream with Stagwell Inc. CEO Mark Penn.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week filed a suit against X, formerly Twitter, owner Elon Musk over Twitter stock purchases he made in 2022.
Musk didn’t disclose in a timely way that he had purchased more than 5% of Twitter’s common stock in March of that year, the complaint said.
The SEC said that allowed Musk to keep buying shares of Twitter at an artificially low price, and he underpaid by $150 million.
An SEC rule requires investors who own more than 5% of a stock to disclose their stake within 10 days, but the agency claimed in the complaint that Musk didn’t make the disclosure until 11 days after the deadline, when he already owned 9%.
ELON MUSK TO PROVIDE WI-FI TO WILDFIRE-STRICKEN AREAS USING STARLINK, CYBERTRUCKS
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week filed a suit against X, formerly Twitter, owner Elon Musk over Twitter stock purchases he made in 2022. (om Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Twitter shares immediately went up after his disclosure.
Musk began to buy Twitter in April 2022, finalizing the sale that October.
He paid $44 billion for the social media platform.
ELON MUSK APPLAUDS ZUCKERBERG’S MOVE ENDING FACT-CHECKING ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM
Musk didn’t disclose in a timely way that he had purchased more than 5% of Twitter’s common stock in March of that year, the complaint said. (Photo Illustration: Muhammed Selim Korkutata / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
His lawyer Alex Spiro told FOX Business in a statement: “Today’s action is an admission by the SEC that they cannot bring an actual case – because Mr. Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is.”
He added, “As the SEC retreats and leaves office, the SEC’s multi-year campaign of harassment against Mr. Musk culminated in the filing of a single-count ticky tak complaint against Mr. Musk under Section 13(d) for an alleged administrative failure to file a single form—an offense that, even if proven, carries a nominal penalty.”
This is the SEC’s third lawsuit against Trump. Their first was over a 2018 tweet Musk posted, falsely claiming he was thinking of taking Tesla private for $420 a share. As part of that settlement, he was forced to step down as chair of Tesla.
The SEC also sued Musk in 2023 to try to compel him to testify about his Twitter purchases, which he did a year later.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
The current lawsuit is also likely to be one of SEC Chairperson Gary Gensler’s last acts in his position as the Trump administration comes in in less than a week.
Reuters contributed to this report.
