Tue 02 June 2021:
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk of violating a court-ordered policy that bars him from publishing tweets before they are greenlighted by Tesla lawyers, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) newspaper reported, citing the relevant records.
According to the US regulator’s correspondence with Tesla in 2019 and 2020, Musk’s two tweets about the company’s solar roof production volumes and its stock price were not pre-approved by corporate lawyers, the WSJ reported on Tuesday.
The SEC also sent a letter to the carmaker in May 2020, saying that the company had failed to enforce procedures and controls over Musk’s tweets despite repeated violations. The letter added that “Tesla has abdicated the duties required of it by the court’s order.”
Tensions between the US top corporate regulator and Musk, whose tweets are notorious for upending stocks within minutes, have been running high for several years now. The feud broke out back in 2018 when the SEC accused the Tesla CEO of misleading investors after he tweeted that he could take the company private at a price of $420 per share just as the stock was trading at around $358 per share. The regulator said the CEO had full knowledge that the potential transaction was uncertain, and he had not discussed prices with possible partners.
The fraud claims were settled in September of that year, with Musk and his company paying $20 million penalty to the US regulator. The CEO also agreed to have his public statements on social media vetted by Tesla lawyers.
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