SEC asks judge to convict Elon Musk in contempt of breach of contract

Robyn Beck | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla Inc., speaks at an unveiling event of the Hawthorne Boring Co. Test Tunnel in Hawthorne, California, on Tuesday, December 18, 2018.

Tesla shares fell nearly 5% after the SEC asked a judge to convict Elon Musk in defiance of his contract. The SEC quoted an "inaccurate" February 19 tweet about the production, reported Bloomberg.

Musk: "Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will manufacture about 500,000 in 2019"

On that date, Elon Musk tweeted – and revised – his forecast for Tesla manufacturing figures for the entire year.

The CEO said Tesla would manufacture "about" 500,000 vehicles this year, specifying about four hours later that he "intended" to say that the company's annualized production rate by the end of 2019 could be about 500,000 vehicles, a production rate of 10,000 cars. per week. Total shipments for the year are still estimated at 400,000, said Musk.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against Musk and Tesla over the company's last-ditch buyout last fall, the billionaire remaining at the helm of the company but abandoning its president and being fined $ 20 million.

The coercive action of the SEC puts an end to a saga that began in early August, when Musk announced via Twitter that it had secured enough funds for a massive private takeover of Tesla. The complaint to the SEC alleged that in doing so, Musk had issued "false and misleading" statements and had not properly informed the regulators of significant events in the company. According to the terms of the agreement, Musk and Tesla neither admit nor deny the wrongdoings alleged by the regulators.

"This case reaffirms an important principle enunciated in our federal securities laws based on disclosure," SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said in a statement released in September.

"In particular, when companies and insiders make statements, they must act responsibly, ensuring in particular that statements are not false or misleading and do not omit the information that an investor reasonable would consider it important to make an investment decision, "Clayton added.

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