00:00The Securities and Exchange Commission sued tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday, accusing
00:06him of securities fraud linked to his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, now known as
00:11X.
00:13The SEC specifically accused Musk of failing to disclose his ownership stake of Twitter
00:19in a timely manner before purchasing the social media platform outright in 2022.
00:25Regulators also said Musk's alleged noncompliance with disclosure rules allowed him to quote
00:31underpay by at least $150 million for shares he purchased after his financial beneficial
00:37ownership report was due.
00:40Musk filed his ownership report after the deadline, according to the lawsuit, which
00:44said Musk's eventual filing of the report boosted Twitter's stock price by 27 percent.
00:51Musk's lawyer, Alex Spiro, said Musk, quote, has done nothing wrong and characterized the
00:56lawsuit as a sham.
00:59The SEC is seeking a jury trial and a court order forcing Musk to pay a civil penalty
01:04and return his profits from the stock purchases at the heart of the lawsuit.
01:09Musk owned a more than 5 percent stake in Twitter when he missed the March 24, 2022
01:14deadline to publicly disclose it, the lawsuit alleged.
01:18He reached a deal the next month to buy 100 percent of the company.
01:23The SEC has investigated Musk for years following his blockbuster purchase of Twitter.
01:29Regulators sued the tech billionaire in 2023 for refusing to testify about the acquisition,
01:34saying he quote, abruptly notified the SEC staff that he would not appear two days before
01:39a scheduled testimony and cited quote, spurious objections.
01:45For more on this story, check out Antonio Pequeño's article in the link in the description.
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