On Thursday, a Tesla shareholder filed a lawsuit accusing CEO (Elon Musk)of insider trading while selling over $7.5 billion of shares of the EV maker in late 2022, statingthat the billionaire tech magnate sold the shares before potentially unsatisfactory production and delivery numbers were made public. In the lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court, shareholder Michael Perry, stated that Tesla’s share price tumbled after the company’s fourth-quarter numbers were made public on Jan. 2, 2023, and claimed that Musk “improperly benefited” by around $3 billion in insider profits.”Musk exploited his position at Tesla, and he breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla,” the lawsuit specified, requesting the court to direct Musk to return the profits made from the trades.

According to the litigation, Elon sold the shares on several dates in November 2022 and December 2022.The litigation also accused EV maker’s directors of breaching their fiduciary duty by letting Musk to sell the shares. Elon and Tesla did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.In the complaint, Perry said Musk – who in 2022 stated that demand for Tesla’s vehicles was “excellent” –got to kwon about the lower-than-expected numbers mid-November, with his easy access to real-time data, and sold his shares prior to the information getting public.

Following news of vehicle price discounts that ignited demand concerns and the publication of the numbers in January, Tesla’s stock tanked.”Had (Musk) waited to make these sales until after the release of material adverse news,… his sales would have netted him less than 55% of the amounts realized from his November and December 2022 sales,” the lawsuit stated.

This litigation is the latest legal headache for Elon

It comes as Elon faces resistance from some Tesla shareholders who are all set to vote on June 13 on whether to approve his $56 billion pay package, which a Delaware judge annulled in January because she found he inappropriately controlled the process.Tesla is incorporated in Delaware.Musk is also entangled in a regulatory probe to decide whether he broke federal securities laws in 2022 when he purchased stock in social media platform Twitter, which he later rechristened X. Musk stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was trying to “harass” him through uncalled-for investigations. Elon and the top U.S. markets regulator have been in a years-long strife, dating back to the year 2018, when he tweeted that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private.A separate shareholder litigation has accused Musk of conning X investors by delaying disclosure of his stake in the social media enterprise to accumulate shares at lower prices.