Elon Musk to step down as Tesla chairman, to pay fine of $20 million

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Elon Musk has reached a settlement with United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) according to which he will quit as chairman of Tesla as well as pay a fine of US $20 million.

SEC had filed a lawsuit against Musk earlier this week and accused him of having misled investors. SEC referred to Musk's tweet on August 7 which had claimed that he had managed to get funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share which had led to the company's stock to rise significantly. The agency, however, claimed that no such funding had been received in reality.

According to US media agencies, Musk neither admitted nor did he deny charges levelled against him although he had previously termed the lawsuit against as 'unjustified.' CNN reported that Musk has been allowed to remain Tesla CEO under the settlement but will now have to step down as chairman of the board in 45 days. Tesla will now also appoint two new independent directors to its board and establish a board committee to oversee Musk's communication, reported CNN.

At the time of filing this report, Musk had not commented or tweeted on the above.