SEC asks judge to consider holding Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt of court over tweet
The Securities and Exchange Commission is asking a federal judge to consider holding Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt for allegedly violating his settlement agreement with a recent tweet.
On Monday, the SEC filed a claim against Musk for not complying with the agreement reached with the Wall Street regulatory agency in late September.
The reason for the filing was a Feb. 19 tweet in which Musk wrote: “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019.”
In September, the SEC accused Musk of securities fraud in a civil lawsuit that charged him with lying or recklessly misleading when he tweeted that he had "funding secured" to take the electric car company private.
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4000 Tesla cars loading in SF for Europe pic.twitter.com/BODbSzo3Fr
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2019
Though Musk claimed in a series of tweets Aug. 7 that he had arranged a deal to take Tesla private, he "had not even discussed, much less confirmed, key deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source," the SEC alleged in its September complaint filed in federal court in New York City.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
Two days after the SEC filed its complaint, Musk settled with the commission and was required to pay a $20 million fine and step down as chairman for three years. He remains as CEO.
The agreement approved by the court Oct. 16 “ordered Musk to comply with procedures implemented by Tesla that would require Musk to seek pre-approval of any written communications, including social media posts, that contained or reasonably could contain information material to Tesla or its shareholders.”
The SEC said in the court filing Monday that Musk "did not seek or receive pre-approval prior to publishing this tweet, which was inaccurate and disseminated to over 24 million people."
Musk took to Twitter on Monday afternoon and wrote "Fate *loves* irony. Frankly, too much."
Fate *loves* irony. Frankly, too much.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2019
He also posted a meme Monday, which appears to be his face in a dusk sky, and the words "Oh hi lol."
Oh hi lol pic.twitter.com/9WvbtTHoxS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2019
Shares of Tesla fell 5 percent Monday in after-hours trading. Tesla did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SEC asks judge to consider holding Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt of court over tweet