Elon Musk has agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), closing a civil lawsuit over the timing of his 2022 Twitter stock disclosure.
SEC Alleged 11-Day Disclosure Delay Saved ~$150M
The SEC sued Musk in January 2025, claiming he failed to file a required disclosure 11 days after crossing the 5% ownership threshold in Twitter shares during 2022. The agency argued the delay let him keep buying shares at lower prices before the market learned of his position, which eventually reached 9.2%. The SEC estimated Musk saved roughly $150 million through the delayed filing.
Under the settlement disclosed on May 4, 2026, in federal court in Washington, D.C., a trust in Musk's name will pay a $1.5 million civil penalty without admitting or denying wrongdoing. The agreement requires court approval. Musk does not have to return the alleged $150 million savings.
Alex Spiro, Musk's lawyer, said: ���Mr Musk has now been cleared of all issues related to the late filing of forms in the Twitter acquisition, as we said from the outset he would be.”
Other Legal Woes: Shareholder Case and Tesla Settlement
The SEC settlement resolves only the disclosure timing issue. Musk still faces a separate shareholder class action over comments he made during the Twitter buyout process. A San Francisco jury found him liable on March 20, 2026; he is seeking to overturn the verdict or secure a new trial.
This is not Musk's first run-in with the SEC. In 2018, the regulator charged him after he tweeted about “secured” funding to take Tesla private. Musk settled that case by paying a $20 million civil fine.
X Platform's Crypto Scam Feature
Separately, as reported in early April, X (formerly Twitter) is preparing a safety feature targeting crypto scams. The tool would lock accounts that mention cryptocurrency for the first time, requiring extra verification before posting resumes — a response to account hijacking campaigns that used verified profiles to promote scam tokens.