
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been sued for his ''flagrantly'' ignorant tweets by investing giant JPMorgan.
The company has alleged that Musk is clearly ignoring his contractual obligation to pay for its stock warrants contract that expired in July and are worth $162 million.
Following announcements of significant corporate transactions involving Tesla, JPMorgan Chase & Co alleges that Musk re-priced its warrants. It is unusual for a major Wall Street bank to sue such a high-profile client.
Stock warrants give the holder the right to buy shares at a set price within a certain time period, enabling the holder to profit if the stock rises beyond the specified price.
In 2018, Musk had tweeted ''Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.''
However, he had abandoned his plan 17 days after posting the tweet. This created significant volatility in the share price. Later on Tesla backtracked and said it had no intention of going private.
In the same year, Musk was required to step down as chairman under a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
He was asked to pay $20 million to settle charges as he defrauded investors with false claims on Twitter about the possible go-private transaction that was quickly aborted.
According to JPMorgan, Tesla complained in 2019 that the bank's adjustments were "an opportunistic attempt to take advantage of changes in volatility in Tesla's stock," but did not challenge the underlying calculations.
(With inputs from agencies)