Elon Musk’s lawyers sought to negotiate a settlement of the SEC’s case over his delayed disclosure of a Twitter stake without fully involving the agency’s litigation team, an unusual approach that surfaced in federal court earlier this month, the Financial Times reported.

Musk lawyer Sarah Concannon told Judge Sparkle Sooknanan at a March 4 hearing that settlement talks had been under way for some time but that SEC lawyers on the case “were not fully read in,” the news outlet reported. The judge reacted with surprise, saying it was odd that discussions to resolve the case were ongoing without counsel’s awareness, according to the report.

The FT said it was unclear who Musk’s lawyers had been negotiating with, though a person familiar with the talks said the White House was not involved and that discussions were held with higher levels of the SEC. Musk and the SEC later filed a joint motion to extend a deadline, saying they were discussing a potential resolution that could make further proceedings unnecessary, according to the FT.

The SEC sued Musk last year, alleging he failed to disclose his Twitter stake within the required time and thereby obtained at least a $150 million discount on additional stock purchases, the FT said. The case remains financially significant because it centers on alleged securities-law violations tied to Musk’s accumulation of shares before his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, now X.

The filing came a day after SEC enforcement director Margaret Ryan abruptly resigned after being on the job for only seven months, the newspaper noted.