The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested permission from a judge to pay out $40 million to investors from a 2018 civil settlement with Elon Musk and Tesla, according to Reuters.
The news came after Musk complained that the regulator had “broken its promises” by stalling on the payout of the settlement while harassing Musk with an “endless” probe into his conduct, as detailed in a court filing on Tuesday.
With interest, the settlement payout has increased to $41.2 million, set to go to investors who lost money days after a 2018 tweet in which Musk claimed he had funding to take Tesla private.
U.S. Labor Secretary Wants to Chat with Tesla’s Elon Musk https://t.co/UCUP6WjaQ4
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) March 5, 2022
In a court filing, Musk said, “I never lied to shareholders.” Musk continued, “I entered into the consent decree for the survival of Tesla, for the sake of its shareholders.”
The initial settlement oversaw Musk and Tesla paying $20 million each in civil fines, forcing Musk to step down as chairman, and instituting a decree that mandated SEC oversight of Musk’s Twitter account — as overseen by Manhattan U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan.
Musk asked the judge on Tuesday to put an end to SEC oversight of his Twitter account, adding that the move was “trampling” on his freedom of speech.
