MUSK QUITS AS TESLA CHAIR . . . TO ESCAPE FRAUD CHARGES
ELON Musk has been forced to quit as Tesla’s chairman to escape fraud charges over an incendiary tweet about taking the firm private.
The billionaire, who will stay on as chief executive at the electric car maker, has been told that his Twitter account must be vetted by Tesla.
Musk was charged with fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over a tweet last month in which he pledged to take Tesla off the stock market and added ‘funding secured’.
He must now give up the electric car firm’s influential chairmanship within 45 days, and Tesla has been ordered to hire two new independent directors. Tesla and Musk himself have each also been fined £15m.
The compromise allows Musk to settle SEC charges which could have seen him banned from running Tesla altogether – or even seen him jailed.
But it is still a huge blow for the 47year-old entrepreneur, who sets great store by his freedom to run companies in his own way.
Investigators said Musk’s tweet was false and misleading because there was no backer signed up to fund a deal to go private.