SEC asks federal judge to hold Elon Musk in contempt over tweet News
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SEC asks federal judge to hold Elon Musk in contempt over tweet

The US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a motion Monday requesting the US District Court for the Southern District if New York to hold Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt after Musk tweeted inaccurate information regarding expected sales for 2019 in violation of the settlement agreement between the SEC and Tesla.

The tweet stated that “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019.” Musk did correct the tweet hours later, but the SEC still found the original tweet, disseminated to over 24 million followers, was made without pre-approval.

The SEC filed a complaint in September against Musk, saying he shared false and misleading information on social media to millions of followers. Musk agreed to settle the claims only two days later. The court then entered an order in October, requiring “Musk to seek pre-approval of any written communications, including social media posts, that contained or reasonably could contain information material to Tesla or its shareholders.”

The court will be looking for Musk’s response to the motion prior to making a determination.