Musk: US is demanding he pay penalty over disclosures of his Twitter stock purchases

abcnews.go.com:

Elon Musk says the Securities and Exchange Commission wants him to pay a penalty or face charges involving what he disclosed — or failed to disclose — about his purchases of Twitter stock before he bought the social media platform in 2022

DETROIT — Elon Musk says the Securities and Exchange Commission wants him to pay a penalty or face charges involving what he disclosed — or failed to disclose — about his purchases of Twitter stock before he bought the social media platform in 2022.

In a letter posted by Musk on the platform now called X, his lawyer Alex Spiro tells the outgoing SEC chairman, Gary Gensler, that the commission's demand for a monetary payment is a “misguided scheme” that won't intimidate Musk. The letter also alleges that the commission reopened an investigation this week into Neuralink, Musk's computer-to-human brain interface company.

The SEC has not released the letter. Nor would it comment on it or confirm whether it has issued such a demand to Musk.

“It is the policy of the SEC to conduct investigations on a confidential basis to preserve the integrity of its investigative process,” an agency spokesperson said in an email Friday.

Messages also were left Friday by The Associated Press seeking comment from Spiro.

In the letter, Spiro says he is responding to demands from SEC staff members about a multi-year investigation of “certain purchases, sales and disclosures of Twitter shares.” In addition, Spiro is demanding to know who directed the actions.

Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion. But a lawsuit filed by a Twitter investor in April 2022 accused Musk of violating a regulatory deadline to reveal that he had accumulated a stake of at least 5%. Instead, according to the complaint,