Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk shot back against US financial regulators on Monday, arguing that his recent tweet about his company’s production numbers did not violate a previous fraud settlement and that he cannot be held in contempt.

Lawyers for Mr Musk said that his “single, immaterial” tweet to more than 24 million Twitter followers, claiming that Tesla would produce around 500,000 electric cars in 2019, complied with the communications policy his company has been forced to adopt. 

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had asked a court in New York City to hold Musk in contempt, saying his tweet in February violated a fraud settlement from September which barred him from sharing…