Elon Musk has been sued by the U.S.’ Securities and Exchange (SEC) over his acquisition of the company formerly known as Twitter.

Long before he acquired the social media platform and rebranded it as X, Musk bought a 9.2 percent stake in the company. However, he didn’t disclose this until April 4th, while the SEC says he was required by law to reveal this ownership by March 24th, 11 days later. The SEC alleges that this allowed Musk to underpay “by at least $150 million” when he eventually acquired Twitter in October 2022.

In a statement, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, called the lawsuit a “sham” and said it’s part of a larger “campaign of harassment” against the business mogul.

“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 offense that, even if proven, carries a nominal penalty,” said Spiro.

Musk was previously sued by the SEC over tweets about taking Tesla private, among other investigations, which resulted in him being required to vet some tweets about the EV maker with a lawyer. (In one of Musk’s countless cringe-worthy attempts to be cool, he even likened this legal dispute to rapper Eminem’s infamous battle with the SEC.)

Ultimately, though, it remains to be seen what will come out of SEC’s new lawsuit, especially as Musk ally Donald Trump will once again take office as U.S. president on January 20th. As part of that transition, Musk is set to co-lead a new presidential advisory committee, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and will reportedly even get an office at the White House. As Spiro alluded to, the SEC’s current chair, Gary Gensler, also plans to step down on January 20th, so it’s unclear if the new administration will continue the lawsuit.

For now, the full SEC lawsuit can be found here.

Via: The Verge