Judge Says Cannot ‘Rubber Stamp’ $1.5 Million Musk-SEC Deal

Elon Musk

Photographer: Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images

A federal judge cited “red flags” about a proposed $1.5 million deal between Elon Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission to end the agency’s lawsuit alleging the world’s richest person waited too long in 2022 to reveal his growing stake in Twitter Inc.

“I am not going to rubber stamp this settlement and I cannot rubber stamp this settlement,” US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said on Wednesday, adding that details in the proposed settlement “raise red flags for me.”