Tesla appoints two directors as part of US fraud settlement

Tesla named two more independent directors on Friday and said it completed the requirements of a US settlement of fraud charges involving Chief Executive Elon Musk. The electric car company tapped Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Walgreens Boots Alliance Executive Vice President Kathleen Wilson-Thompson for its board of directors, an element of the September agreement between Musk and the US Securities and Exchange Commission that resolved charges that Musk defrauded investors by claiming on Twitter that he had secured funding to take Tesla private.

“Tesla intends to certify to the Commission that it and Elon have timely completed each of their respective actions required pursuant to the Settlement,” the company said in a securities filing. The appointments come at the end of a rollercoaster year for Tesla and its flamboyant leader, whose head-turning conduct included appearing to smoke marijuana in a media appearance and a public battle with a rescuer who helped save a group of boys trapped in a cave in Thailand, whom he termed a “pedo guy.”

In addition to Friday’s appointments, Musk’s settlement with the SEC included stepping down as chairman for three years and fines of $20 million each from Musk and Tesla. But Musk has continued to taunt the US agency, most recently in an interview broadcast earlier this month with network news program “60 Minutes.” “I want to be clear. I do not respect the SEC -- I do not respect them” Musk said.