The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit accusing Tesla boss Elon Musk of securities fraud.
The US financial regulator says Mr Musk’s claims that he had secured funding to take the electric carmaker private were “false and misleading”.
It is seeking to bar Mr Musk from acting as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.
Mr Musk called the action “unjustified” saying he acted in the “best interests of truth, transparency and investors”.
“Integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way,” he said in a statement.
Tesla’s board of directors said in a statement that they were “fully confident in Elon, his integrity and his leadership of the company”.
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Mr Musk startled the business world last month when he took to Twitter to announce that he was considering a plan that would de-list the company from the stock exchange.
He wrote he had “funding secured” for the proposal, which would value Tesla at $420 per share. BBC
