Elon Musk has resolved a civil lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the delayed disclosure of his initial Twitter purchases, now referred to as X. A trust in Musk’s name will pay a $1.5 million US civil fine as part of the settlement revealed in a Washington, D.C., federal court on Monday. Musk, without admitting wrongdoing, will not forfeit any of the $150 million he is believed to have saved due to the delayed disclosure.
The settlement, which awaits approval from U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, marks the conclusion of over seven years of legal disputes between Musk and the regulator. The conflict began in September 2018 when the SEC accused Musk of securities fraud for tweeting about securing funding to potentially privatize his electric car company, Tesla.
Musk, who paid a $20 million civil fine and relinquished his role as Tesla’s chairman in a previous settlement with the SEC, has now been cleared of issues related to the delayed filing of forms in the Twitter acquisition, according to his lawyer, Alex Spiro.
The SEC had claimed that Musk’s 11-day delay in revealing his initial five percent stake in Twitter allowed him to purchase over $500 million of shares at lower prices before disclosing a 9.2 percent stake. Musk defended the delay as inadvertent and criticized the SEC for allegedly infringing on his free speech rights.
The $1.5 million penalty imposed on Musk was described by legal experts as a modest sum for the wealthiest person globally but serves as a message that rules apply to all, even someone like Elon Musk. Musk concluded the $44 billion Twitter acquisition in October 2022, incorporating Twitter into his AI company xAI, which was later integrated into his space company SpaceX. Forbes estimates Musk’s net worth at $789.9 billion.
In a separate development, a civil lawsuit proceeding against Musk involves allegations of defrauding Twitter shareholders by questioning the presence of fake accounts on the platform to renegotiate the buyout terms. Shareholders claim losses due to Musk’s comments affecting Twitter’s stock price, seeking damages of up to $2.5 billion.
Despite his involvement in various companies and regulatory investigations, Musk led cost-cutting efforts in the second Trump administration in early 2025 before returning to his private sector activities. Recently, Musk testified in a federal court case in California involving OpenAI, a venture he co-founded, seeking damages and changes in leadership.