Elon Musk reaches new agreement with SEC over social media abuses
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reached a deal Friday to settle a lawsuit concerning his controversial usage of Twitter to boost the company's standing with investors.
The terms of the agreement, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, dictate that Musk is required to seek legal counsel before posting any public statements, including tweets, regarding the electric car company's finances and business operations that could impact investors' views of the company.
If the terms of the agreement are approved by a judge, Musk will not be held in contempt for skirting an earlier settlement with the SEC. That first settlement with the agency followed rogue tweets by Musk that falsely suggested Tesla would be taken private at $420 a share, an assertion that temporarily pumped up the company's lagging stock price.
U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan decided in early April that Elon Musk and the SEC were to reach an agreement in two weeks before she intervened. An SEC lawyer had argued in court that Musk should face hefty fines for flouting deals with the agency.