Elon Musk lands in hot water once again with U.S watchdogs.
The billionaire is being sued by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for not disclosing his ownership of Twitter stocks in early 2022, as per Associated Press.
According to the claims presented on January 14, Musk was able to buy Twitter for nearly $150 million less due to the hidden stocks, which made him the owner of more than 5% of Twitter’s shares.
The Tesla founder started collecting Twitter stocks in early 2022, and by march of the same year, he owned more than 5%.
As per the law, by that time, he was supposed to inform the court of his ownership but failed to do so until April 4, 11 days after the report was due.
Alex Spiro, Musk’s lawyer while referring to the lawsuit as "sham", claimed that this case is proof that SEC can’t find a real offence to charge the 53-year-old over and that he has done "nothing wrong."
"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 tack complaint against Mr. Musk under Section 13(d) for an alleged administrative failure to file a single form – an offence that, even if proven, carries a nominal penalty," Spiro noted.
Furthermore, SEC also revealed that they have been investigating the acquisition of Twitter since 2022 to see if there was any foul play involved.
Gary Gensler, the current chair of SEC is planning to step down from his post on January 20, and it is not clear if the new administration will continue the lawsuit as Elon Musk have quite friendly relationship with Donald Trump.
