Elon Musk also is disputing the SEC’s earlier claims that he defrauded investors with a 2018 Twitter message.
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Tesla Inc. TSLA 0.88% Chief Executive Elon Musk asked a federal judge on Tuesday to scrap a settlement he reached with securities regulators in 2018 that required his tweets be preapproved, a condition that has fomented an ongoing conflict with the government over whether he and Tesla TSLA 0.88% have followed the rule.
In a motion filed in Manhattan federal court, Mr. Musk’s lawyers argued that the Twitter oversight policy has become unworkable, while the Securities and Exchange Commission has abused the deal to make “round after round of demands for voluminous, costly document productions, with no signs of abatement.”
In a separate filing, Mr. Musk also disputed the SEC’s earlier claims that he defrauded investors in 2018 when he tweeted that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. The Tesla CEO said he felt pressured to settle the SEC’s civil lawsuit at the time and added: “I never lied to shareholders. I would never lie to shareholders. I entered the consent decree for the survival of Tesla, for the sake of its shareholders.”
An SEC spokesman declined to comment.
Mr. Musk’s request follows a new SEC investigation that relates to trading by himself and his brother, Kimbal Musk. The probe began last year after the Tesla chief polled Twitter users asking whether he should unload 10% of his stake in the electric-car maker and pledging to abide by the vote’s results. Kimbal Musk sold shares of Tesla valued at roughly $108 million one day before Mr. Musk’s poll tweet.
In the earlier case—the subject of Mr. Musk’s motion on Tuesday—the SEC alleged that Mr. Musk misled investors in 2018 with tweets that weren’t truthful. The regulator’s lawsuit eventually led to an unusual agreement that Tesla lawyers would preclear certain of the CEO’s tweets and other public statements.
Write to Dave Michaels at [email protected] and Rebecca Elliott at [email protected]
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