On Friday, Elon Musk announced that his $44 billion deal to acquire social media platform Twitter was being placed on hold, which seemed an odd move considering that Musk had repeatedly said it was full speed ahead with finalizing the acquisition.

Here’s what Musk tweeted regarding the pause being placed on his deal:

However, Musk wanted everyone to know he was still interested in acquiring Twitter:

Those tweets could wind up being considered the prime evidence that Musk committed securities fraud, according to HuffPost, which notes that Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine made it clear the deal cannot actually be placed on hold:

“‘Temporarily on hold’ is not a thing,” Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine wrote Friday. “Elon Musk has signed a binding contract requiring him to buy Twitter.” The contract “does not allow Musk to walk away if it turns out that ‘spam/fake accounts’ represent more than 5% of Twitter users,” which was revealed by the company in its quarterly filings last month, Levine added.

When buying a company “you are not supposed to say things that aren’t true and that will affect the stock of a public company that you are trying to buy,” Levine noted. “That is what is usually called ‘securities fraud,’ or what I sometimes like to call ’lite securities fraud.’ Musk has a long history of lite securities fraud.”

Musk was accused of securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2018 after he tweeted that he had secured funding to take Tesla Motors private, which turned out to be a lie. He later settled the lawsuit brought by the SEC.

The Musk-Twitter deal has also spawned lawsuits that could result in the billionaire being left empty-handed when it comes to owning his own social media platform. One was filed by Twitter shareholders alleging that Musk failed to obey the deadline for announcing his stake in the company had risen to 5%. That failure to report allowed him to continue purchasing Twitter stock at a lower price, resulting in a $143 million savings for him.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal made it clear Friday that Musk’s attempt to buy the company faces obstacles and may never be finalized:

No matter what happens with Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter, it looks like he’s going to be in potential legal trouble for quite some time.

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