SEC investigates Musk's disclosure of Twitter shares, which may affect the acquisition of Twitter

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s disclosure of his Twitter stake in early April,media reported.

Image credit: Tesla

According to a letter the SEC sent to Musk in early April, the agency asked why Musk did not appear to have filed the necessary documents within 10 days of acquiring the stake, and why the disclosure was made for passive investors ( passive investors), but he also publicly questioned Twitter’s policies on free speech.

Specifically, the SEC asked Musk to explain why it chose to file a "13G" disclosure form (for investors who passively hold stock) rather than a "13D" disclosure form (for active investors who want to influence the company's management and policies). of).Musk then revised the document.Musk, who won a board seat shortly after first disclosing his holdings, has been trying to take Twitter outright for $44 billion, taking it private.

A spokesman for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.An SEC spokesman declined to comment.

Outside experts have previously said that Musk’s late filing of disclosure documents, in an apparently inappropriate form, could draw the attention of the SEC, which has had disputes with Musk in the past.

That could result in Musk being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars by the SEC, though it's not a big deal for the world's richest man.Others suspect Musk's misconduct will affect his acquisition of Twitter.

"I think from an investigation standpoint, the SEC will have pretty strong evidence that Musk violated securities laws,"said Josh White, a professor of finance at Vanderbilt University in the United States and a former financial economist at the SEC.It would be catastrophic for SK to file the wrong form and announce that the Twitter acquisition was put on hold, and Twitter’s stock price would drop immediately. However, I don’t think the SEC is interested in blocking the deal.”