The New York Times reports S.E.C. Sues Tesla's Elon Musk, Seeking to Bar Him From Running a Public Company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit Thursday against Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, accusing him of making false public statements with the potential to hurt investors.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks to bar Mr. Musk from serving as an executive or director of publicly traded companies. Tesla, the electric-car maker of which Mr. Musk was a co-founder, is publicly traded.

The suit relates to an Aug. 7 Twitter post by Mr. Musk, in which he said he had "funding secured" to convert Tesla into a private company.