Elon Musk, SEC of the Tesla asks the court a week more to find an agreement on the use of Twitter

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk and the US Securities and Exchange Commission are demanding more time from a federal court to settle a dispute over Musk's use of Twitter. announced Thursday the court.

On April 4, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered Musk and the agency, who had previously asked Musk to be held in contempt for violating a previous agreement. , try to reach agreement and report no later than April 18th. The judge said that she would rule on the claim of contempt if they fail to reach an agreement.

Musk and SEC lawyers said Thursday in a statement that "discussions were underway" and asked for an extra week, until April 25, to submit their report.

The SEC sued Musk last year after tweeting on Aug. 7 that he had "secured funding" to make Tesla private at $ 420 per share. The agency said the tweet, which had pushed Tesla's stock price up to 13.3%, violated securities laws. The privatization plan of Musk was at best at an early stage and funding was not in place.

Musk settled the dispute by agreeing to quit his position as chairman and having the company's lawyers approve written submissions, including tweets containing important company information.

In February, the SEC accused Musk of violating the settlement by tweeting Tesla production that had not been verified by the company's lawyers, and asked US District Judge Alison Nathan of Manhattan to condemn him with contempt.

Musk's lawyers argued that the tweet did not contain important new investor information and that Musk did not need to be pre-approved for all Tesla tweets under the settlement.

At the April 4 hearing, a SEC lawyer stated that if Musk was found to be in contempt, the agency would ask the judge to ask him to report to him regularly on his use of Twitter and pay a series of fines higher and higher in the future. violations.

Nathan refused to rule on the motion for contempt, but ordered Musk and Tesla to meet and try to resolve the dispute themselves.