Elon Musk hit with $1.5M fine in Twitter disclosures settlement

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Published  May 6, 2026 4:57pm CDT
FOX Local

FILE-Elon Musk listens as President-elect Donald Trump addresses a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The Brief

    • Elon Musk is settling a lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his purchase of Twitter in 2022.
    • Musk bought the social media company for $44 billion.
    • SEC officials argued that Musk allegedly postponed revealing his initial stake in Twitter to buy millions of shares at a low cost.

Elon Musk settled a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil lawsuit alleging that he waited a long time in 2022 to disclose his purchases of Twitter. 

Reuters reported that a trust in Musk’s name will pay a $1.5 million civil fine under a settlement revealed on May 4 in a federal court in Washington, D.C. 

RELATED: Elon Musk’s Twitter conducts yet another round of layoffs, firing dozens: report

However, this settlement case is separate from a civil lawsuit where a San Francisco jury found Musk liable on March 20, 2026, for defrauding Twitter shareholders after announcing a buyout.

Musk Twitter settlement

The backstory:

The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a January 2025 lawsuit, alleged that Elon Musk's 11-day delay in his ​first 5% Twitter stake in late March and early April 2022 allowed him to purchase over $500 million shares at low prices, before Musk divulged a 9.2% stake.

SEC officials contended that Musk should pay a civil fine and repay the $150 million he was accused of saving at the expense of unsuspecting investors.

RELATED: Elon Musk says he will resign as Twitter CEO once he finds ‘someone foolish enough to take the job’

According to Reuters, Musk claimed the delay was unintentional and alleged that the SEC violated his free speech rights by going after him. The SEC later sued Musk prior to former President Joe Biden leaving the White House as Donald Trump was set to begin his term in office. 

In October 2022, Musk completed the $44 billion purchase of Twitter and later ​overlapped Twitter into his artificial intelligence company ​xAI and then folded xAI into ⁠his rocket company SpaceX. 

Musk and SEC officials were in talks to settle, after SEC Enforcement Chief Margaret Ryan left her job after several months.

Reuters reported that Ryan leaving her position ​followed conflict with other leaders at the federal agency over enforcement.

The Source: Information for this story was provided by Reuters. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.


 

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