As a result of the tweets, the Securities Exchange Commission ( SEC ) charged Musk and Tesla with civil securities fraud. Musk and Tesla individually paid the agency $20 million in fines. Additionally, they also struck a revised settlement agreement requiring Musk to temporarily step down as Tesla's chairman of the board. The mogul's Twitter activity also sparked a shareholder class action suit from Tesla investors, alleging that Musk's tweets were misleading and cost them a great deal of money.