SEC Sues Musk Over Twitter Stock Buys, Escalating Long-Simmering Feud

The lawsuit comes after a long investigation that Musk sometimes delayed

- Dave Michaels & Alexa Corse

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday sued Elon Musk over allegations he misled shareholders about his Twitter stock purchases, escalating the agency's long-simmering feud with the billionaire.

The SEC's lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, says Musk's delayed disclosure of his ownership allowed him to save more than $150 million on buying Twitter stock.

The late disclosure hurt investors who sold at artificially low prices because they didn't know about Musk's plans, the SEC says.

The lawsuit comes after a long investigation that Musk sometimes delayed.

Musk called the SEC a "totally broken organization" in a post on X. "They spend their time on s--- like this when there are so many actual crimes that go unpunished," he said.

The SEC's investigation dates back to 2022, when Musk acquired a large block of Twitter shares with an eye toward loosening the platform's controls on speech. Musk ultimately took over the social-media platform and renamed it X.

The lawsuit says Musk disclosed his ownership position in Twitter 11 days after the deadline. It seeks an order forcing Musk to repay the money he saved by allegedly violating the regulation. It also asks the court to impose a financial penalty.

Musk's lawyer, Alex Spiro, said the lawsuit is a sham.