Musk last month filed a motion to overturn Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) restrictions imposed following his 2018 tweet, in
which he said he had acquired funding to take Tesla private, but did not
provide proof or file paperwork with the securities regulator.
The tweet, which caused share prices to fluctuate wildly,
was ruled to be "false and misleading" and shareholders have accused
Tesla of securities fraud.
The SEC also charged Musk with fraud and ordered him to step
down as chair of Tesla's board of directors, pay a $20 million fine and, after
another unfortunate tweet in early 2019, demanded his tweets directly related
to business of the company be pre-approved by a competent lawyer.
Musk said he was forced to agree to the deal, and denies
lying to shareholders.
However, "Musk's claim that he was the victim of
economic duress is wholly unpersuasive," Judge Lewis Liman wrote in his
ruling.
The judge said Musk's argument that the SEC has used the
agreement "to harass him" and investigate his speech is
"meritless" and "particularly ironic," since free speech
rights do not allow him to make statements that are "considered
fraudulent" or violate securities laws.
"Musk cannot now seek to retract the agreement he
knowingly and willingly entered by simply bemoaning that he felt like he had to
agree to it at the time but now -- once the specter of the litigation is a
distant memory and his company has become, in his estimation, all but
invincible -- wishes that he had not."
The judge also rejected Musk's request to quash part of the
SEC's demand for documents about his November 6, 2021 tweet calling for
followers to vote on whether he should sell 10 percent of his Tesla stock.
The tweet sent the company's share price lower, and the SEC
wants to know if it was approved as required. The agency also is investigating
possible insider trading after Musk's brother - a Tesla board member - sold
$108 million in the car-maker's stock a day before the poll.
Musk's headline-grabbing deal to buy Twitter comes with a
clause specifying that he is free to tweet about the pending $44 billion merger
provided his posts "do not disparage the company or any of its
representatives," a copy filed with US regulators shows.
That did not stop Musk on Wednesday from tweeting his
displeasure with content moderation moves made by Twitter's top attorney Vijaya
Gadde who is seen as a moral champion of the platform.
Musk additionally tweeted a meme critical of Gadde.
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