SEC Sues Elon Musk For Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit against the CEO of Tesla, Inc. Elon Musk on Thursday, September 27th, 2018 according to court records. The news broke after hours and was widely reported by credible sources including NPR and Fox.

Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018

The suit alleges that Elon Musk engaged in fraud by prematurely and improperly announcing that he had plans underway to take the publically traded company private and that shareholders would be reimbursed at share price higher (significantly higher) than the stock value at that time.

Musk had been under investigation by the SEC since shortly after this now infamous tweet was released and then further supported by Musk in subsequent tweets and in other ways. Musk included the phrase "funding Secured." Media outlets are reporting that the SEC says in its filing today that "In truth and in fact, Musk had not even discussed, much less confirmed, key deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source."

The SEC has not yet updated its media materials on this subject and is expected to do so shortly. Watch for an update to this story early tomorrow morning.