The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a judge for approval to distribute its $40 million fine on Tesla Inc and its CEO Elon Musk to investors. In 2018, the SEC settled with Tesla and Musk over the take-private tweets, fined Tesla and Musk $20 million each.
The civil settlement settled the SEC’s fraud charges and required Musk to obtain prior attorney approval before tweeting. Last month, Musk’s lawyers accused the SEC of “broken promises” by delaying the payment and by trying to harass Musk by suppressing his speech through an “endless” investigation.
The dispute was not addressed in a court filing by the SEC late Tuesday, in which the agency described a “fair and reasonable” way to distribute the money, which it believes deserves “a high degree of respect.” Including interest, that amount has grown to $41.2 million. Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, declined to comment.