Washington, Jan 15
Just days ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th US President, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against his best ally Elon Musk over an alleged securities violation relating to his acquisition of Twitter in 2022.
The SEC lawsuit alleged that the tech billionaire “failed to disclose his 5 per cent ownership stake of Twitter in a timely manner”, violating federal securities law.
The complaint, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, also claimed that the Tesla and SpaceX owner “waited to disclose the acquisition in order to build up a larger position in Twitter at a discounted price”, said reports.
The lawsuit against Musk came as Gary Gensler, Chairman of the SEC, is set to step down on January 20, the day Trump takes over as US President.
According to the SEC complaint, after purchasing more than 5 per cent of Twitter – which Musk allegedly did on March 24, 2022 – he was required by the SEC to file a beneficial ownership report.
He filed the report April 4, 2022, according to the SEC’s complaint.