ELON MUSK is in trouble with watchdogs over his Twitter activity again, and could face fines or even theoretically jail.
The Tesla founder first fell foul of the US Securities & Exchange Commission last August when he tweeted that he had secured private financing for a buyout of the company at $420 a share.
The SEC forced a $40 million settlement on the entrepreneur for disclosing information that could move Tesla shares via Twitter, which included an agreement that in future any sensitive tweets would be approved by a company lawyer.
The watchdog says a tweet on February 20 claiming the company would make 500,000 cars in 2019 broke that agreement. It has asked a New York judge to hold him in contempt of court.
Musk later admitted his tweet was wrong, saying in a follow-up message that Tesla would only deliver 400,000 cars this year. The SEC said the billionaire “once again published inaccurate and material information about Tesla to his over-24 million Twitter followers”.
Tesla argues it had already disclosed the correct information in late January. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said: “He is looking like a repeat offender and a bad actor. The SEC is taking action because it has a responsibility to protect the interests of consumers, investors and the public.”
Musk went on the offensive, tweeting that the SEC “forgot to read Tesla earnings transcript, which clearly states 350k to 500k. How embarrassing ...” The shares fell more than 5% overnight. Musk stepped down as chairman of Tesla over the last Twitter row, but remains chief executive.
Even after the settlement he remained aggressive towards the SEC, saying he didn’t respect the regulator. He told CBS’s 60 Minutes that no one at the company would be proofing his posts.
