Judge approves Elon Musk's $1.5M SEC settlement despite 'significant misgivings'
A U.S. district judge has approved a $1.5 million penalty for Elon Musk to settle an SEC lawsuit over his delayed disclosure of Twitter stock purchases, though she expressed 'significant misgivings' about the deal.
U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan on Wednesday approved a $1.5 million penalty against Elon Musk to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit, despite stating she had “significant misgivings” about the agreement.
The SEC filed its lawsuit against Musk in early 2025, just days before Donald Trump took office, over his handling of the Twitter acquisition. The regulator argued that Musk failed to timely disclose his growing stake in the company in 2022, which ultimately saved him approximately $150 million.
In May, Musk reached a settlement with the SEC, under which a trust in his name would pay the $1.5 million penalty without admitting wrongdoing. Sooknanan had previously questioned whether Musk was receiving “special treatment” from the Trump administration, given that Musk helped bankroll Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
In her opinion, Sooknanan noted that her court was “limited to evaluating whether the proposed consent judgment meets minimum standards of fairness and reasonableness,” or whether it “make[s] a mockery of judicial power.” She wrote that although the court had significant misgivings, the settlement did not meet the high threshold to be rejected.
