recent YORK – The U.S. financial instruments and swap fee has given Elon Musk until Monday to respond to an propose to resolve a probe into the billionaire’s $44-billion takeover of Twitter in 2022, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

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The advancement, which signals the investigation may be nearing a conclusion, is the latest salvo in a year-long community feud between the top U.S. markets regulator and the globe’s richest man.

Musk on Thursday posted on X a copy of a note sent by his lawyer to SEC Chair Gary Gensler saying the agency had given Musk 48 hours to consent to pay a penalty to settle the probe or face civil charges, and demanding to recognize whether Gensler was personally behind the advancement.

The SEC has been investigating whether Musk broke financial instruments laws in 2022 when he bought distribute in Twitter, which Musk subsequently renamed X, as well as statements and filings he made in relation to the deal, previous disclosures display.

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According to the source, the agency has been probing Musk’s SEC filing disclosing his Twitter distribute purchases, which was at least 10 days late, and whether he intended to advantage from thatdelay, which some academics have estimated saved Musk over $140 million.

As part of the probe, the agency had asked a federal court to compel Musk to testify after the billionaire failed to display up to agreed depositions.

On Tuesday, the SEC sent Musk a settlement propose seeking a response in 48 hours, but extended the deadline to Monday after a request for more period, the source said, speaking on the state of anonymity to discuss confidential enforcement matters.

A spokesperson with the SEC’s community affairs office declined to comment. Musk’s lawyer did not respond immediately to calls for comment.

SEC aiming for settlements

The SEC commonly tries to resolve probes through settlements rather than suing a defendant, but the initial 48-hour deadline was unusually tight, legal experts told Reuters. If Musk failsto respond, the SEC will likely proceed through a “Wells” notification procedure, a formal step in which the SEC outlines potential charges and allows Musk to respond, the source said.

The Thursday note Musk shared on X, which was signed by his attorney Alex Spiro, said the SEC has also reopened an investigation into Musk’s brain-chip recent business Neuralink.

Neuralink did not respond to requests for comment. The nature of that inquiry is not obvious, but U.S. lawmakers and animal-rights advocates have pressed the SEC to scrutinize comments Musk has made about the safety of Neuralink’s implants.

The SEC first sued Musk in 2018 during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, accusing him of breaking the law when he posted on social media that he had “financing secured” to receive hiselectric carmaker Tesla private when the SEC found he had not.

Despite ultimately settling and agreeing to an unusual arrangement requiring some of his posts to be vetted by an attorney, Musk subsequently disputed the SEC’s findings in thatcase and has over the years accused the agency of harassment -claims Spiro reiterated in his Thursday note.

“We demand to recognize who directed these actions – whether it was you or the White House,” Spiro wrote to Gensler.

A major backer of Trump, Musk in the recent administration will co-navigator the recent Department of Government Efficiency tasked with cutting government costs, potentially giving him some power over the SEC’s workings.