The agency has also reopened a probe into the Musk-owned Neuralink, according to a letter.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Dec. 11 demanded a settlement from Elon Musk to avoid charges related to his purchase of Twitter, now known as X, according to a letter from Musk’s lawyer to the agency.
Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion. That year, the SEC launched an investigation into whether he violated federal securities laws through his purchase, statements, and SEC filings.
“Yesterday the Commission Staff issued a settlement demand that required Mr. Musk agree within 48 hours to either accept a monetary payment or face charges on numerous counts,” Alex Spiro, the lawyer, wrote in the letter to the chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, on Thursday. “They indicated that this demand was the result of a directive from their superiors and that charges would be brought imminently unless Mr. Musk acquiesced.”
The SEC did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Spiro said that the SEC also subpoenaed him in its investigation but that he refused to cooperate, and that the agency also reopened a probe into Neuralink, another company owned by Musk.
“This series of events makes