Reuters
Federal regulators are pressing Tesla Inc.’s directors for details on how much information Chief Executive Elon Musk shared with them before he tweeted last week about a potential deal to take the company private, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Musk intentionally misled investors when he tweeted about the proposal in a bid to hurt short sellers by driving up TSLA, -0.96% stock price, the person said.
Establishing what the board knew and when is key to the SEC’s probe, the person said. For instance, if Musk didn’t show the board a relatively firm deal with potential investors, it could indicate that the conversations weren’t as far along as he suggested when he tweeted that he had “funding secured” for a deal.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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