Elon Musk has reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding a lawsuit filed in 2022. The lawsuit accused Musk, the wealthiest individual globally, of delaying the disclosure of his initial Twitter purchases, now known as X. As part of the settlement revealed in a Washington, D.C., federal court on Monday, a trust in Musk’s name will pay a $1.5 million US civil fine.
Musk, without admitting any wrongdoing, will not be required to forfeit any of the alleged $150 million he saved due to the delay. The settlement is subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who previously rejected Musk’s attempt to dismiss the case in February.
This settlement marks the conclusion of over seven years of contentious disputes between Musk and the regulatory body. The conflict began in September 2018 when the SEC charged Musk with securities fraud after he tweeted about having secured funding to potentially privatize his electric car company, Tesla.
In a statement, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, stated, “Mr. Musk has now been cleared of all issues related to the late filing of forms in the Twitter acquisition, as we said from the outset he would be.” The SEC declined to provide any comment on the matter.
The SEC alleged in its January 2025 lawsuit that Musk’s 11-day delay in disclosing his initial five percent Twitter stake allowed him to purchase over $500 million in shares at artificially low prices before ultimately revealing a 9.2 percent stake.
Musk defended the delay as inadvertent and accused the SEC of infringing on his free speech rights by targeting him. The lawsuit was filed just days before former U.S. President Joe Biden left office.
Notably, Musk completed the $44 billion Twitter acquisition in October 2022, integrating Twitter into his artificial intelligence company xAI, which was later merged into his rocket company SpaceX. His current net worth, according to Forbes magazine, stands at $789.9 billion.
Meanwhile, a separate civil suit related to Twitter is ongoing, with shareholders alleging that Musk manipulated Twitter’s stock price through his comments, causing them financial losses. Musk’s legal team is seeking to dismiss or retry the case, claiming bias against him.
Despite his involvement in various companies and regulatory investigations, Musk initiated cost-cutting measures during the second Trump administration in 2025 before returning to his private sector ventures. Recently, Musk testified in a federal court case over OpenAI, where he demanded damages and changes in leadership due to the organization deviating from its original nonprofit goals.