Elon Musk has been accused of withholding information

Elon Musk has been charged by a Twitter Inc. shareholder, who claims that the Tesla Inc. CEO’s delay in disclosing his ownership of more than 5% of the social media business influenced his stock price to remain low.

Musk was charged with securities fraud in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday by Marc Bain Rasella, who stated that Musk was required to divulge his ownership to the SEC by March 24. According to Rasella, Musk’s delay in submitting the report permitted him to buy additional shares at lower prices and defraud Twitter Sales dealers of bigger profits.

Musk didn’t respond to a request for comment right away. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

When Musk filed the form confirming his participation with Twitter, the company’s shares rose 27 percent, from $39.31 on April 1 to $49.97 on April 4, according to the investor.

Rasella is attempting to speak on behalf of a group of investors who sold Twitter stock between March 24 and April 1.