The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued billionaire Elon Musk, saying he failed to disclose his ownership of Twitter stock in a timely manner in early 2022, before buying the social media site.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Tuesday over an alleged securities violation relating to his acquisition of

Twitter's stock price rose 27 percent once Musk belatedly disclosed his stake, the lawsuit said. "During the period that Musk was required to publicly disclose his beneficial ownership but had failed to do so, he spent more than $500 million purchasing additional shares of Twitter common stock," it said.

Musk bought Twitter shares at 'artificially low prices' and saved $150 million because he reported his Twitter stake late, the SEC alleges.

The SEC has sued billionaire X owner Elon Musk, alleging he failed to disclose his ownership of Twitter stock in a timely manner in 2022.

The SEC alleges Elon Musk violated federal securities law by failing to disclose his more than 5% stake in Twitter on time.

The financial regulator wants Musk to pay a civil penalty and remedies over alleged “unjust enrichment” ahead of his 2022 purchase of the social network.

Elon Musk cheated Twitter shareholders by waiting too long to disclose his growing stake in the company, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued tech billionaire Elon Musk, alleging he committed securities fraud by failing to disclose his ownership of Twitter.