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- Federal regulators and Elon Musk are set to face off in federal court in New York on Thursday.
- The SEC has asked the judge to find Musk in contempt of court for allegedly violating his settlement with the agency.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his legal team have arrived for a Thursday court hearing in the case against him brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The legal spat dates back to Musk’s September 2018 tweet that he was looking to take Tesla private at $420 per share. That go-private bid did not work out, and resulted in two, $20 million settlements between both Tesla and Musk with the SEC.
Musk also agreed to have his tweets monitored by a company employee, but Tesla has not disclosed who that “twitter sitter” is. That was fine, until Musk tweeted on February 19 that Tesla would make 500,000 cars in 2019 — a substantial deviation from what the company had told investors in its regulatory filings.
Despite a correction later that morning, the SEC accused Musk of violating the agreement and asked the court to hold him in contempt of court.
Full coverage: Elon Musk and the SEC are in a fierce battle over one of Musk’s tweets — here’s what you need to know about their dispute
Musk’s lawyers have argued in subsequent filings that the SEC is overreaching in asking the court to find Musk in contempt. According to Musk’s attorneys, the SEC was attempting to expand the settlement’s scope to include any of Musk’s tweets about Tesla, regardless of their relevance to shareholders.
"Such a broad prior restraint would violate the First Amendment," Musk’s lawyers said.
The hearing, in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, kicks off at 2pm Eastern Thursday. Business Insider has a reporter inside the courtroom — follow along for live updates by refreshing this page:
1:30pm: Elon Musk arrives in court
Linette Lopez / Business Insider
Elon Musk showed up to the hearing in Lower Manhattan around 1:30 pm, and was spotted in the security line to enter the courthouse.
2pm: The hearing has kicked off
Judge Alison Nathan took the bench at the hearing’s scheduled start time, according to Bloomberg. Each side — Musk and the SEC — will have 45 for oral arguments.
See Also:
- JPMORGAN: Tesla just undermined Elon Musk’s defense against the SEC
- Elon Musk and the SEC are in a fierce battle over one of Musk’s tweets — here’s what you need to know about their dispute
- The 36 wildest Elon Musk quotes
SEE ALSO: JPMORGAN: Tesla just undermined Elon Musk’s defense against the SEC
Source: Business Insider – grapier@businessinsider.com (Graham Rapier)