A U.S. federal judge approved a settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Elon Musk on Wednesday, ending a dispute over his disclosure of Twitter share purchases. Judge Sparkle Sooknanan voiced significant reservations about the agreement but concluded she had little room to reject it.
The deal requires a $1.5 million civil penalty payable by the Elon Musk Revocable Trust to the U.S. Treasury — far below the $150 million the SEC originally sought in disgorgement for allegedly defrauded shareholders. The regulator had accused Musk of saving roughly $150 million by delaying disclosure of his large-scale accumulation of Twitter stock ahead of his $44 billion acquisition of the platform in 2022, which he later renamed X.