Tesla’s Elon Musk enters Manhattan courthouse in showdown with SEC

Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., center, arrives at federal court in New York, on Thursday, April 4, 2019.

“The court and SEC are in a bit of a bind here because capital punishment, if you will, would be … throwing him out of company or banning him from running any public company from now on for violating this agreement with the SEC,” Paul Ingrassia, Revs Institute for Automotive Research editor, said on CNBC’s “The Exchange” on Thursday. “He is viewed as being the essence of Tesla. It’s his brainchild. He’s not only the public figure but also the creative genius behind it.”

Tesla’s shares plunged by more than 10% Thursday after the company released its production and delivery data for the first quarter that missed Wall Street estimates and disappointed investors.

“At some point I think people have to start wondering would this company be better off with a calmer managerial presence in charge as opposed to a genius leader but a mercurial leader,” Ingrassia said. “Is the company now at that stage of its development? But Musk has so much of the shares himself that that’s probably not going to happen without an SEC or court order, which I doubt they’ll be willing to do.”

CNBC’s
Michelle Fox
contributed to this article.

Watch: What investors should watch ahead of Musk’s faceoff with the SEC