Elon Musk has been on an epic tweeting spree recently. That’s not necessarily a good thing.
He called for the removal of short sellers from Tesla. He called The New York Times a “dishonest newspaper.” He joked about hanging Anthony Scaramucci from the ceiling.
One Twitter user asked him about “opening up” his Twitter account in person, but Musk missed the opportunity. In a now-deleted tweet, he said, “Since I’m often not physically in a place, I often choose not to participate in public dialog. Right now, I’m quite happy to sit here and tweet.”
To that, someone from JPMorgan asked him to clarify that he never intended to “open up” his account.
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The bankers are going to be back soon.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) said Monday that Musk’s auto company owes it a little more than $162 million because of tweets.
The company said that “posting material non-public information on Twitter directly violates material non-public information controls and procedures in the lead-up to the company’s November 6, 2018 Annual Shareholder Meeting.”
JPMorgan’s securities division filed a lawsuit on April 9 against Tesla alleging that Musk didn’t tell his board and investors ahead of time about comments on Monday in which he said that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 a share.
Musk tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private on “the weekend.”
The suit said the comment came too late to disclose in its most recent quarterly filing.
The bank wants Tesla to pay up to $150 million if it loses at trial for refusing to settle the case.
JPMorgan won’t have to pay in full if it is required to pay a lesser amount. That’s because it said it has already been fined in the past by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The biggest penalty JPMorgan paid for similar violations was a $614 million settlement in 2008 over accounting for an offer and sale of stock.
Shares of Tesla were initially down more than 3% in morning trading but now appear to be trading up slightly, with the stock closing up 1.2% at $297.23.
The shares have more than doubled in value so far this year.
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