NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will get another week to settle a dispute over Musk’s use of Twitter, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan extended the deadline by one week to April 25, in response to a Thursday court filing where both sides requested the extension and said “discussions are ongoing.”
Nathan had been asked to hold Musk in contempt over a Feb. 19 tweet that the SEC said violated an earlier settlement with the agency.
If Musk and the agency fail to resolve the dispute, the judge said she would rule on the contempt request.
The SEC sued Musk last year after he tweeted on Aug. 7 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The agency said the tweet, which sent Tesla’s share price up as much as 13.3 percent, violated securities laws. Musk’s privatization plan was at best in an early stage and financing was not in place.
Musk settled the lawsuit, agreeing to step down as chairman and have the company’s lawyers pre-approve written communications with material information about the company, including tweets.
In February, the SEC accused Musk of violating that settlement by sending a tweet about Tesla’s production that had not been vetted by the company’s attorneys, and asked U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan to hold him in contempt.
Musk’s lawyers have argued that the tweet did not contain new information that was material to investors,
