The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk claiming that he violated Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by failing to timely file a beneficial ownership report in 2022 after surpassing a 5% ownership stake in Twitter Inc.

According to the SEC, Musk delayed the required disclosure by 11 days, during which time he allegedly benefited from an artificially deflated stock price while continuing to acquire shares. The agency estimates that this delay saved Musk at least $150 million.

Legal experts suggest, however, that recovering the full amount under a Musk-friendly administration could prove challenging. Howard Fischer stated that the SEC could possibly say "[t]his is a paperwork violation, pay $500,000 as a penalty and promise not to violate these requirements again."