Elon Musk calls SEC \'broken\' in new Twitter spat

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is taunting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission again, after the SEC accused Musk of violating the terms of a settlement last year of fraud charges against him and asked a judge to hold him in contempt.

Musk tweeted Tuesday: "Something is broken with SEC oversight." Hours later, afederal judge ordered Musk to explain by March 11 why he should not be held in contempt for violating the settlement agreement.

Musk signed an agreement last year with the SEC pledging he would not share material information about the electric car maker without pre-approval from the board.

But last week he tweeted: "Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019"-- and the SEC says that violates the agreement.

Last year - Musk drew the ire of regulatorsby tweeting ‘considering taking Tesla private at $420 dollars a share..’.

And that the funding had been secured.

Tesla AND Musk agreed in September to eachpay $20 million to the SEC, and the billionaire stepped down as the company's chairman… but remained as CEO.

But that hasn’t quieted Musk.

He laid into the SEC in a 60 Minutes interview last year, saying: "I want to be clear.

I do not respect the SEC." The SEC’s latest allegation could reopen a turbulent chapter for the electric vehicle maker… A J.P.

Morgan analyst said that in a worst case scenario, the SEC could again seek Musk’s removal as CEO for violating the terms of the agreement and if that happened - shares could fall by a fifth in value.

But so far – Investors don’t seem overly concerned.

After dropping at the open, Tesla shares turned higher in Tuesday trading.