Just hours after it was reported that a judge was seeking further explanation as to the fairness of the settlement between Elon Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission, a tweet from Elon Musk's Twitter account openly mocked the government agency. In a Tweet Musk released just after 4PM EST, he refers to the SEC as the "Shortseller Enrichment Commission".

When called out about the typo (of leaving the word "say" out in between "to" and "that"), Musk doubled down on his comments, seemingly saying about the SEC, that it's "their mission" and "what they do".

As you may recall, one of the conditions of Elon Musk's proposed settlement with the SEC was that he was to have all of his tweets vetted by the company before he put them out. The settlement required "Tesla Inc. to put in place a system to monitor his public communication."

It was only hours after the original settlement was announced that Musk conveyed financial guidance to his staff in an internal email, stating that they were “very close” to profitability. This email was then subsequently leaked to the media, where it was reported on shortly thereafter.

Earlier today, we reported that Musk's settlement still had not been finalized and that a judge was awaiting further details before signing off on it. 

Tesla shares dropped on the news, which has reopened the possibility that Musk might be outed as Tesla CEO, threatening the considerable "Musk premium" that has for years been the most relevant factor in determining the value of Tesla stock.

Tesla shares erased nearly all of their gains from September last week when Musk revealed that he would fight the SEC as it sought to hold him accountable for a reckless tweet announcing that he had secured private funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share. The agency revealed that Musk knew the tweet was disingenuous - in fact, the $420 figure was meant to be "an inside joke" between Musk and ex-girlfriend, the Canadian musician Grimes (the figure represented a 20% premium over Tesla's share price at the time, plus $1). 

But after Musk rejected the SEC's initial offer, sending shares lower, he changed his mind and agreed to pay a $20 million penalty (while Tesla would pay another $20 million) and surrender his chairman role on the company's board.

With this, he also agreed to pre-clear tweets with the company in the future.

We wonder what that judge - and more importantly - the SEC, are thinking right now.