Elon Musk filed a motion in federal court in Washington to dismiss a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which accuses him of violating the law when disclosing his stake in Twitter in 2022.

According to the regulator, Musk reported crossing the 5% ownership threshold 11 days late, allowing him to buy more than $500 million worth of shares at artificially low prices. By April 4, 2022, he held a 9.2% stake in the company.

Musk’s lawyers insist the delay was technical: the entrepreneur stopped purchases and filed the disclosure the next business day after consulting with legal advisers. They argue that the SEC does not accuse him of intentional or malicious conduct, but only of a single form that was corrected immediately upon discovery.

The agency is seeking fines and the return of profits from Musk, but the defense says the case is an attempt to pressure the billionaire for his public criticism of the regulator. Musk’s conflict with the SEC dates back to 2018, when the commission sued him over tweets about plans to take Tesla private.