Fee for reckless tweet: Ilon Musk will leave Tesla and pay $ 20 million

Founder of Tesla Inc. Ilon Musk will leave the post of chairman of the board of directors after he made a deal with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused him of fraud. He will also pay $ 20 million fine, writes Currently,.

Ilon Musk Photo: YouTube / TED video frame

The agreement is subject to approval by the court. In the case of a successful outcome of the case Musk will be able to keep the post of general director. But he will resign as chairman of the board of directors for 45 days and will not be able to run for that position again for three years.

According to the agreement, Musk pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges against him, but agreed to pay a fine of $ 20 million. In addition, Tesla will pay a total of $ 40 million to investors affected by public statements by the head of the company.

In early August, Musk tweet that he was considering the possibility of buying out the company's shares at a price of $ 420 per share and found the means for that. It was much higher than the price at the time of tweet. Against the background of applications, Tesla Inc. shares cost increased by about 11% - to $ 380 per share.

A few days later, investors filed a lawsuit against the company's founder, since the sale, in their opinion, would violate US securities laws and the protection of investors' rights.

As the Commission later found out, Musk did not receive any financing for the purchase of Tesla securities. Subsequently, he said that Tesla will remain a public company, and stock prices have plummeted.

But the agreement does not close the possibility for the General Prosecutor's Office to present the criminal charges of fraud to Mask.

According to American laws, such reports of the heads of public companies on the sale must be reliable, they must be agreed with investors in advance, and submitted to the regulatory and supervisory authorities for official consideration. This Mask did not.

Mask's statement was unreasonable and misled investors, said Co-Chairman of the Securities Commission Executive Stephanie Avakan during a press conference. Shareholders and the Commission believe that Mask's tweets violate several US laws, and accuse the businessman of fraud.

Musk said the Commission's lawsuit was "without merit" and was "terribly upsetting" to him.

“I have always made decisions based on truth, transparency and investors. Loyalty is the main value in my life, and all the facts will confirm that I have never deviated from it,” the businessman said in a statement.

According to Bloomberg, during the press conference and in the lawsuit itself, the Securities Commission criticized Musk for his behavior, citing the businessman's April Fool's announcement about the company's bankruptcy, as well as ways to "surprise his girlfriend, the Grimes singer" and references to the culture of smoking marijuana. (in his tweet, Musk indicated a share price of $420 - in the US, this number is associated with smoking marijuana).

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