Records show securities regulators told Tesla, Inc. its chief executive violated a court-ordered policy regarding his social media posts last year.
The records, obtained by The Wall Street Journal Wednesday, said Musk had violated the policy at least twice.
The policy was part of a settlement between the company and the commission over fraud allegations against Musk. The commission accused Musk of defrauding investors by posting tweets about a potential buyout of his company.
As part of the settlement, Musk and Tesla agreed to pay $20 million each. Musk also agreed to have all of his public statements on social media vetted by Tesla's lawyers before they were published. Despite having settled the claims, the billionaire still continued to send out communications.
In the recently obtained correspondence between Tesla and the commission, the regulator said a number of Musk's tweets violated the agreement. The tweets were reportedly related to Tesla's solar roof production volumes and stock price - posts that the commission says were not properly vetted by the company's lawyers.
"Tesla has failed to enforce these procedures and controls despite repeated violations by Musk. Tesla has abdicated the duties required of it by the court's order," the commission said.
In a tweet posted by Musk May 1, 2020, the chief executive said Tesla's stock price was "too high." The commission said the tweet resulted in a $13 billion decline in the company's market value. The commission also quoted a tweet posted by Musk in 2019 - which talked about the company's solar roof business.
Following a string of tweets that both negatively and positively affected his companies' stocks, the commission confronted Musk and filed two separate complaints. The first complaint was against Musk personally, while the second one was against Tesla.
The commission filed the complaints after Musk posted a tweet in 2018, stating that he would be taking the company private at $420 per share and that he had already secured funding. Tesla stocks immediately rose substantially in price - and were then followed by months of volatility.
