The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that the agency filed an enforcement action against the co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk over his purchase of X, according to a litigation release.
In October 2022, Musk officially became the sole owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, after a months-long legal battle after saying he had been originally misled about the number of spam or “bot” accounts on the site. In a litigation release from the government agency, the SEC says Musk “failed to timely file a beneficial ownership report” with the Commission after “acquiring beneficial ownership of more than five percent of the outstanding shares” of then-Twitter stock.
“According to the SEC’s complaint, after Musk failed to timely file a beneficial ownership report by March 24, 2022, he purchased more than $500 million worth of Twitter common stock between March 25, 2022 and April 1, 2022,” the release said.
“As alleged, because Musk failed to timely file a beneficial ownership report with the SEC, he was able to make these purchases of Twitter common stock at artificially low prices from the unsuspecting public, who had not yet priced in the undisclosed material information of Musk’s beneficial ownership of more than five percent of Twitter common stock and investment purpose.”
The SEC alleges that due to Musk’s “failed” timely file, the billionaire had underpaid “by at least $150 million for his purchases of Twitter common stock” during the time of the transfer.
“The complaint further alleges that, due to Musk’s failure to timely file a beneficial ownership report with the SEC, investors that sold Twitter common stock between March 25, 2022 and April 1, 2022 did so at artificially low prices, thereby suffering substantial economic harm,” the release said.
With fewer than six days until President-elect Donald Trump takes over, the SEC notably announced Tuesday that Chief Accountant Paul Munter plans to retire from the agency effective Jan. 25. Due to Munter’s leave, it is unclear if the SEC will proceed with its filing against Musk.
Elon Musk did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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