The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday asked a judge to hold Tesla Inc`s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk in contempt for violating last year`s settlement with the federal agency, sending shares of the electric carmaker down 5 percent in extended trade.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The regulator pointed to Musk`s Feb.19 tweet: "Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019," noting that Musk did not seek or receive pre-approval prior to publishing this tweet, which was inaccurate and disseminated to over 24 million people.

Musk thus violated last year`s settlement by engaging in the very conduct that the preapproval provision of the final judgment was designed to prevent, according to the regulator.

A U.S. judge in October approved the settlement between the federal regulator, Tesla and Musk, over his tweets promising to take the company private.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)