In September 2018, Tesla and CEO Musk settled a civil securities fraud suit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As part of the settlement, Musk stepped down as chair of the board and the company agreed to corporate governance reforms, other changes, and a total of $40 million in fines for Musk and the company. The SEC had alleged that a Twitter post by Musk outlining plans to take Tesla private "lacked an adequate basis in fact." The SEC also charged Tesla with "failing to have required disclosure controls and procedures relating to Musk’s tweets." On June 1, 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had twice violated a court order requiring that all his tweets be pre-approved by Tesla lawyers. On March 8, 2022, Musk sued to end the SEC settlement condition requiring company lawyers to approve his tweets containing material business information, alleging it infringes his freedom of expression. On April 14, 2022, Musk called SEC regulators "bastards" for bringing the charges settled in 2018.