Erratic genius Elon Musk’s days as the head of Tesla Inc. may be numbered as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today not only sued him but is seeking to have him banned as an officer or director of any public company.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Musk violated antifraud provisions of federal securities laws when he took to Twitter Aug. 7 and tweeted, falsely, that he had funding secured to take Tesla private at $420 per share.

Not holding back, the SEC is seeking a permanent injunction, disgorgement, civil penalties and a bar prohibiting Musk from serving as an officer or director of a publicly held company.

In Friday trading, Tesla’s shares fell nearly 14 percent, to $264.77 a share.

In a statement, the SEC said that it alleged that Musk had not discussed specific deal terms with any potential financing partners and that he knew the potential transaction was uncertain and subject to numerous contingencies. The tweet caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by more than 6 percent on Aug. 7 and, in the words of the SEC, “led to significant market disruption.”

“Corporate officers hold positions of trust in our markets and have important responsibilities to shareholders,” said Steven Peikin, co-director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “An officer’s celebrity status or reputation as a technological innovator does not give license to take those responsibilities lightly.”

Musk, who describes himself as bipolar, has had a particularly erratic year in which investors have started to question his behavior.

The SEC action isn’t the only lawsuit Musk is currently facing. One of the heroes of the Thailand soccer team cave rescue that gained worldwide attention earlier this year, Vern Unsworth, has filed defamation proceedings again Musk for calling him a pedophile publicly on multiple occasions.

Unsworth, a British national who has been in a long-term relationship with a Thai local government official aged 40, was targeted by Musk after saying in an interview that Musk’s publicity-seeking attempt to insert himself into the Tham Luang Nang Non cave rescue was not only unwelcome but Musk should also stick his proposed submarine where the sun doesn’t shine.

That incident is not Musk’s only erratic behavior this year, either. In July Musk accused a journalist of bribing a former Tesla employee, and in June he alleged that an employee attempted to burn down a Tesla plant. He is also considered by some to be unduly biased against artificial intelligence, including saying publicly that AI will result in World War III and killer robots.

“Taking care to provide truthful and accurate information is among a CEO’s most critical obligations,” noted Stephanie Avakian, co-director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “That standard applies with equal force when the communications are made via social media or another nontraditional form.”

Photo: Jurvetson/Flickr