The SEC sued Musk, accusing him of not properly disclosing his ownership of Twitter.

The SEC filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Tuesday, claiming that the billionaire committed securities fraud in 2022 by not disclosing his ownership in Twitter and buying shares at “artificial prices”.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, bought Twitter for $44 billion, renamed the social network to X, and built a more than 5% stake in the company before the takeover. He should have made his possession public.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Musk failed to comply with disclosure rules that “allowed him to pay at least $150 million for the stock he bought after filing his financial beneficial ownership report.”

In 2022, the SEC was investigating whether Tesla’s CEO sold shares in his car company and added to Twitter before buying his stake in Twitter for possible securities fraud. In a post last month on X, Musk said the SEC had filed a “settlement request” and pressured him to agree to the deal, including fines, within 48 hours or “face multiple lawsuits” regarding the stock purchase.

When President-elect Donald Trump’s second term begins on January 20, Musk is just one week away from taking on a potentially influential role in government. Musk, who was Trump’s biggest financial backer in the final stages of the campaign, is set to do so. Musk will lead an advisory group that will focus in part on reducing regulations, including those that affect various companies.

This story is developing.