U.S. SEC Tells Musk: We Have A Deal On Monitoring Your Tweets

The top US securities regulator on Tuesday urged a federal judge not to let Elon Musk escape an agreement requiring that his Twitter use be monitored, which the Tesla Inc. chief executive considers part of a campaign of harassment, Jonathan Stempel reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Tesla CEO Elon Musk is trying to quash a subpoena requesting records concerning his Twitter poll last November over whether to sell 10% of his Tesla stock.

In a filing in the federal court in Manhattan, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Musk had not met his "high burden" to set aside a 2018 consent decree requiring that Tesla lawyers approve tweets and other public statements that could be material to his electric car company.

It's not enough that Musk found compliance "less convenient than he had hoped," or wished the SEC would stop investigating Tesla's disclosure procedures. "When it comes to civil settlements, a deal is a deal, absent far more compelling circumstances than are here presented," the SEC said.

The regulatory agency also urged US District Judge Alison Nathan, who oversees the decree, to reject Musk's bid to quash a subpoena requesting records concerning his Twitter poll last November over whether to sell 10% of his Tesla stock.

Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, declined to comment. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Legal experts have said Musk is unlikely to have the decree set aside.

The SEC dispute stems from the regulator's claim that Musk defrauded investors on Aug. 7, 2018, by tweeting that he had "funding secured" to potentially take his electric car company private at a premium, when in reality a buyout was not close. Tesla and Musk settled by each paying a $20 million civil fine, with Musk stepping down as Tesla's chairman.

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