On Monday night, the Securities and Exchange Commission responded to Elon Musk's "contempt" defense, shredding Musk's arguments and making it clear that the regulatory agency will not back down in its attempt to get Musk held in contempt of court following a February tweet regarding Tesla's production guidance.

Musk had argued against the contempt of court motion days ago, with his well-paid lawyers bizarrely calling it an "unconstitutional power grab". Musk's lawyers argued, on his behalf, that production numbers - the lifeblood of the company's relationship to Wall Street - were immaterial, also claiming that the Tweet "dutifully complied with the [settlement] Order".

The SEC made it clear in their response that they saw things very differently. They eviscerated the argument that production numbers were somehow not material, arguing:

"Musk’s recognitionmeaningless."

The SEC did not request specific relief in its brief. Before the night was over on Monday, a letter from Musk's attorneys hit the docket, requesting the court's permission to file a sur-reply by March 22 to respond to the SEC as all signs point to Musk wanting to continue his fight, head on, with the regulatory agency.

The SEC has been looking to hold Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt for breaching a court ordered settlement that Musk slithered away with as a result of his fraudulent tweet from last summer claiming he had funding secured for the buyout of Tesla at $420 per share. After the SEC alleged that a recent Tweet from February 19 was in violation of Musk's court order to have his social media