In addition to running Tesla, SpaceX and — perhaps at some point when the buyout is complete — Twitter, Elon Musk continues to yet another profession in his case against the SEC. His spat with the government agency, as it has been in recent years, is over the 2018 settlement he agreed to after being accused of securities fraud over a tweet about taking Tesla private. In April, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman was not swayed by Eminem-related arguments from Elon’s attorneys and decided to enforce the agreement as originally written.
Now Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro has filed a lawsuit in court to take his case to the US Court of Appeals in hopes of a different decision. The richest man in the world has argued that he was forced to settle with the SEC, that his investigation into Tesla is “like a gun to your kid’s head,” and has argued in court that the SEC is against him is motivated by political bias as it continues to monitor his Twitter activity.
In his April decision, Judge Liman wrote: “Musk cannot now attempt to revoke the agreement he knowingly and willingly entered into by simply complaining that he felt he had to agree to it at the time, but now—as soon as the ghost of the trial is a distant memory, and his companionship, in his opinion, has become virtually invincible – wishes he did not have.’
But now Musk and his lawyers will try to argue otherwise in another courtroom.
