The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit Thursday that accused Mr. Musk, the electric-car manufacturer’s chief executive, of making false and misleading public statements.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit Thursday against Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, accusing him of making false public statements with the potential to hurt investors.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks to bar Mr. Musk from serving as an executive or director of publicly traded companies. Tesla, which Mr. Musk co-founded, is publicly traded.
The suit relates to an Aug. 7 Twitter post by Mr. Musk, in which he said he had “funding secured” to convert Tesla into a private company.
The S. E. C. said that Mr. Musk “knew or was reckless in not knowing” that his statements were false or misleading. “In truth and in fact, Musk had not even discussed, much less confirmed, key deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source,” the S. E. C. said in its lawsuit.
Tesla and Mr. Musk didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The S. E. C.’s lawsuit seeks to enjoin Mr. Musk from making such false or misleading statements in the future.
