In a complaint filed in Washington, D.C., federal court, the SEC said the delay allowed Musk to continue buying Twitter shares at artificially low prices, allowing him to underpay by at least $150 million.

The SEC wants Musk to pay a civil fine and disgorge profits he was not entitled to.

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An SEC rule requires investors like Musk to disclose within 10 calendar days when they cross a 5% ownership threshold.

The SEC said Musk did not disclose his stake until April 4, 2022, 11 days after the deadline, by which time he owned more than 9% of Twitter's shares.

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Musk saved at least $150 million at the expense of Twitter shareholders by failing to timely file the beneficial ownership report.

The SEC filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Tuesday, alleging the billionaire committed securities fraud in 2022 by failing to disclose he had amassed an active stake in Twitter, a secrecy that allowed him to buy shares at “artificially low prices.”

Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, purchased Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and changed the name to X the following year. Prior to the acquisition, he’d built up a position in the company of greater than 5%, which would’ve required disclosing his holdings to the public within 10 calendar days of reaching that threshold.

According to the SEC’s civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Musk was more than 10 days late in reporting that material information, “allowing him to underpay by at least $150 million for shares he purchased after his financial beneficial ownership report was due.” Investors may have bid up the stock had they known about Musk’s purchases and interest in the company.

The SEC had been investigating whether Musk, or anyone else working with him, committed securities fraud in 2022 around the Twitter disclosures. Musk said in a post on X last month that the SEC issued a “settlement demand,” pressuring him to agree to a deal, including a fine within 48 hours or “face charges on numerous counts” regarding the purchase of shares.