Elon Musk has asked a US court to dismiss an SEC lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his 2022 Twitter share purchases. The case claims Musk broke Federal Securities Law by delaying the disclosure of his large stake in Twitter, which is now called X.
The SEC says that Elon Musk was required to report his ownership once it crossed 5 percent. Under the rules, this should have happened by March 24, 2022. Instead, he disclosed the stake on April 4, 2022—11 days late. By then, his stake had grown to 9.2 %. Regulators argue that the delay let him buy more than $500 million worth of Twitter stock at lower prices, giving him unfair profits while other investors were left in the dark.
Musk’s lawyers filed the motion on August 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C. They say he did not act with the intent to mislead. According to them, Musk stopped buying shares as soon as his wealth manager asked legal experts about filing rules. He then filed the required form one business day later. The lawyers argue that the SEC’s case is based only on one late form, which was quickly corrected and caused no ongoing harm.
They also claim the case is politically driven. Musk has often criticized government agencies for overreach, and his team says the SEC is targeting him for those views. They argue that the lawsuit “reveals an agency going after a critic, not enforcing real harm.”
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This battle is the latest chapter in Musk’s rocky history with the SEC. The two sides clashed before in 2018 when the SEC accused him of misleading investors with tweets about taking Tesla private. That case ended with a settlement, but the conflict never faded.
The timing of this latest lawsuit has also raised questions. The SEC filed its complaint on January 14, 2025, just six days before Donald Trump became president and named Musk a special adviser to cut federal spending and reduce the government workforce. Musk’s lawyers suggest this timing shows the case is political.
If the court grants Musk’s motion, the case will end before trial. If not, he could face fines and may have to give up profits linked to the delay. The outcome could shape how disclosure rules are applied to powerful investors and how far regulators can go when they clash with public figures.