Elon Musk claims in court brief that SEC is unlawfully muzzling him

The settlement required that his tweets be approved by a Tesla lawyer before being published

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk (Susan Walsh/AP)

US securities regulators are unlawfully muzzling Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, violating his free speech rights by continually trying to enforce a 2018 securities fraud settlement, Mr Musk’s lawyer contends in a court brief.

The document, filed late on Tuesday with the federal appeals court in Manhattan, was written to support Mr Musk’s appeal over a lower court’s April decision to uphold the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).