Trump-era SEC settles Musk Twitter stake case for $1.5 million via trust

Under a proposed deal, the Trump administration would let Elon Musk settle a Biden-era SEC lawsuit over his 2022 Twitter stake by paying a $1.5 million civil penalty from the Elon Musk Revocable Trust, instead of Musk personally facing at least $150 million. The trust would be the defendant and Musk would be cleared of the personal claims. The suit argued Musk violated Section 13(d) by failing to disclose the stake within 10 days, enabling him to buy shares at artificially low prices. A federal judge would need to approve the settlement. In a separate related case, a jury found Musk liable for false statements about bot accounts, with potential damages estimated around $2.5 billion.