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Elon Musk will give up the role of Tesla Inc. chairman and pay a $20 million penalty to settle fraud charges brought by the U.S. over his claims about taking the company private.

It is nearly impossible to imagine Tesla Inc. without Elon Musk, its chairman, CEO, largest shareholder and public face. But a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit has raised questions about the executive’s future at the clean-energy company, sending shares spiraling.

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of misleading investors when he tweeted that he had funding lined up to take the company private.

Elon Musk says an “extreme shortage” of car carrier trailers is partly to blame for Tesla’s delivery woes. That has trucking industry executives and analysts scratching their heads.

All it took to draw the U.S. Justice Department into investigating Tesla Inc. was a single tweet by Chairman Elon Musk. But now that prosecutors have a toehold, they can dig in to look for other signs of misconduct at the electric car maker.

Tesla Inc. is under investigation by the Justice Department over public statements made by the company and CEO Elon Musk, according to two people familiar with the matter. The criminal probe is running alongside a previously reported civil inquiry by securities regulators.

The turmoil at Tesla Inc. reached a fever pitch, as the news that two senior executives are leaving Elon Musk’s electric-car maker emerged just hours after he smoked marijuana during an hours-long interview streamed live online.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah driver who slammed her Tesla into a stopped firetruck at a red light earlier this year while using the vehicle’s semi-autonomous function has sued the company, saying salespeople told her the car would stop on its own in Autopilot mode if something were in its path.

Officials at transportation service company Ruan got a chance to see Tesla Inc.’s prototype battery-electric heavy-duty truck, which toured the country recently, stopping at some carriers that have placed orders for the truck that is scheduled for fleet testing in 2019.

Tesla Inc.’s lead in battery technology gives it a cost advantage that may last for several years and help the U.S. electric-car maker face down an onslaught of new competition, according to new research from Bloomberg.