Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk violated his agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission by tweeting inaccurate information about his electric car company and should be held in contempt, the federal agency said Monday in a court filing.
He violated a deal requiring pre-approval for tweets containing information material to Tesla or its shareholders, the SEC said.
Tesla shares fell about 5 percent in after-hours trading as news of the court filing spread.
"On February 19, 2019, Musk tweeted, 'Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019,' " the SEC 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."
Musk and the SEC struck the deal last year, days after the federal agency charged Musk with fraud over a slew of Aug. 7 tweets, including one in which Musk claimed he had "funding secured" for a deal to take Tesla private at $420 a share.
Under the deal, Musk agreed to have his public comments about Tesla monitored by the company before putting them out on Twitter or elsewhere. He also agreed to personally pay a $20 million fine, give up his chairman's seat at Tesla and bring two new independent directors onto the electric-carmaker's board.
Days after reaching that agreement, Musk thumbed his nose at the SEC by flinging an insult at it on Twitter.
