Tesla CEO Elon Musk filed a motion Tuesday asking a judge to end a consent decree with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stemming from a Twitter post regarding the sale of Tesla stock shares.
Musk argued in a court filing with the New York Southern District Court that the consent decree should be terminated because his “freedom of speech is infringed” and the SEC has used it in “bad faith” to investigate several tweets from Musk since 2018, including one in which he asserted he had “funding secured” to take the company private.
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“The SEC’s pursuit of Mr. Musk has crossed the line into harassment, which is quintessential bad faith. Over the past four years, the SEC has engaged in successive investigations of Mr. Musk and his tweets without cease,” the filing stated.
The SEC is currently investigating whether Musk and his brother violated securities laws last November regarding a stock sale poll posted to Twitter.
Last month, Musk filed a complaint with U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan saying the SEC was targeting him and his company with an “unrelenting investigation” and failed to pay Tesla shareholders the $40 million obtained from the 2018 settlement.
In 2018, Musk settled a securities fraud charge with the SEC, agreeing to step down as chairman of Tesla’s board and implement “comprehensive corporate governance,” among other reforms at the company, according to a news release at the time. In the settlement, Musk was required to obtain preapproval before issuing written communication on specific topics.
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The SEC’s complaint arose from a tweet from Musk on Aug. 7, 2018, in which he said he could take Tesla’s stock private at $420 per share, which the agency said was “misleading” and led to Tesla’s stock price to jump over 6%.
Tweets from Musk have rattled markets on several occasions, sending the values of Tesla, cryptocurrency Dogecoin, and others either soaring or into a tailspin — an instability that has resulted in litigation from investors.
