Elon Musk Can’t Avoid Scrutiny of His Tesla Tweets, SEC Says

Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg News

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., arrives at court during the SolarCity trial in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Musk was cool but combative as he testified in a Delaware courtroom that Tesla's more than $2 billion acquisition of SolarCity in 2016 wasn't a bailout of the struggling solar provider. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk’s tweets about Tesla Inc. will remain a valid subject for government investigation even if a court decides to throw out a 2018 agreement between the billionaire and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency told a judge.

“So long as Musk and Tesla use Musk’s Twitter account to disclose information to investors, the SEC may legitimately investigate matters relating to Tesla’s disclosure controls and procedures, including Musk’s tweets about Tesla, as well as the accuracy of Tesla’s public statements about its controls and procedures,” the SEC said in a court filing in Manhattan federal court Tuesday.

Musk is seeking to end SEC oversight of his Twitter posts under a 2018 agreement, claiming the arrangement is being used to “trample” his free speech rights.

Musk is also asking to block an SEC subpoena for documents relating to the review of his tweets and his sale of stock and options.

The case is U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Musk, 18-cv-08865, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).