Elon Musk charged by US market regulator in investigation into Twitter takeover

The investigation focuses on whether Musk violated federal financial rules in 2022 when he bought shares in Twitter, which he later renamed X. It was the first step that led to the social media site’s $44 billion acquisition.

In mid-December, the SEC made the billionaire a settlement offer. Musk was then given 48 hours to agree to the settlement, otherwise the regulator would take action.

The SEC now rules that Musk “failed to timely” announce that he had acquired 5 percent of the shares of Twitter on March 14, 2022. By law, he should have done this within ten calendar days. As a result, Musk was able to pay a lower amount for the shares, it sounds.

The SEC sued Musk in October to force the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to testify after he refused to attend an investigation hearing in September. Musk had argued that the SEC was trying to “harass” him with multiple subpoenas. He testified twice in July 2022.