Lawyers for tech billionaire Elon Musk filed a motion in court accusing the SEC of trying to “muzzle and harass” the founder of Tesla and his company.
“The SEC seems to be targeting Mr. Musk and Tesla for unrelenting investigation largely because Mr. Musk remains an outspoken critic of the government,” Alex Spiro, a lawyer for the EV-maker, said in the new filing.
The filing is part of the tail of a 2018 agreement which settled civil securities charges against Musk after he had stated on twitter in September 2018 that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share, roiling investors with the prospect of a billion dollar buyout which never happened.
At the heart of the complaint is whether the court or the SEC should be monitoring Musk’s compliance with the terms of the agreement, which include the monitoring the Musk’s public communications.
Tesla has seen its stock rise explosively from 2018 levels fluctuating around $60 per share to more than $900 per share in February 2022.
