Controversial Tweet Gets Elon Musk Sued

The SEC is suing Elon Musk over the Tesla CEO's August tweet in which he said: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." According to court documents filed Thursday, the SEC says that Musk had not even discussed "key deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source," Bloomberg reports. "Musk made false and misleading statements … using his mobile phone in the middle of the active trading day," the SEC says, alleging that Musk also broke Nasdaq rules by failing to let Nasdaq know that he was planning to make the announcement.

"An officer's celebrity status or reputation as a technological innovator does not give license" to take the responsibilities of a CEO lightly, the SEC said in a press release, per the AP.
The SEC has asked that Musk be banned from serving as an officer or director of a public company." Musk says that he is "deeply saddened and disappointed" by what he calls the "unjustified action by the SEC," the AP reports. "I have always taken action in the best interests of truth, transparency, and investors," he says. Tesla shares fell 11% Thursday in after-hours trading, according to reports.

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