SEC says Elon Musk should be held in contempt

by Michael Burke - 02/25/19 7:01 PM ET

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday asked a judge to hold Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in contempt, saying he violated an agreement with the agency by posting an “inaccurate” tweet earlier this month.

The SEC said the tweet Musk published earlier this month about the number of cars Tesla planned to produce in 2019 violated a settlement he reached last year with the agency, the Los Angeles Times reported.

{mosads}“On February 19, 2019, Musk tweeted, ‘Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019,’ ” the SEC reportedly said in the filing. “Musk did not seek or receive pre-approval prior to publishing this tweet, which was inaccurate and disseminated to over 24 million people. Musk has thus violated the Court’s Final Judgment by engaging in the very conduct that the pre-approval provision of the Final Judgment was designed to prevent.”

Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 19, 2019

Musk reached a settlement with the SEC last year after the agency brought fraud charges against him over a tweet he published stating that he planned to take Tesla private at $420 per share, saying that he had secured funding to do so.

As a part of the settlement, Musk was forced to step down as chairman of the company and Tesla was required to appoint two independent members to its board. Musk and Tesla were also required to pay $20 million each in penalties.

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