Federal judge gives SEC and Elon Musk two weeks to resolve dispute News
Kim Shiflett, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Federal judge gives SEC and Elon Musk two weeks to resolve dispute

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Elon Musk to resolve their dispute over the Tesla CEO’s use of twitter within two weeks.

Judge Alison Nathan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the order at the conclusion of a hearing on Thursday concerning the SEC’s motion requesting that the court hold Musk in contempt. The SEC filed the motion after Musk tweeted inaccurate information in February 2019 about Tesla’s projected production rate. The SEC argued that the tweet violated a settlement agreement reached with Musk in October 2018 over a similarly controversial August 2018 tweet. The settlement agreement, which included $20 million in fines, mandated that Musk not tweet information that would be material to investors without the approval of Tesla’s board of directors. In his response to the SEC’s motion, Musk criticized the reading of the settle agreement as overbroad and asserted that he did not need approval for every tweet relating to Tesla.

The order requires that both parties meet and resolve the pending contempt order against Musk by April 18, 2019. If no agreement is reached, Nathan indicated that the court will resolve the question of whether Musk will be held in contempt.