The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing “numerous counts” against Elon Musk, according to a letter from his lawyer that Musk posted to X. It has also “reopened an investigation into Neuralink” The Verge reported.
The letter is short on specifics — such as what the charges may be, and how many Musk companies are affected. Instead, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, complains that “the Commission Staff issued a settlement demand that required Mr. Musk agree within 48 hours to either accept a monetary payment or face charges on numerous accounts.”
Even this is somewhat unclear; presumably, Spiro means that Musk would pay a penalty rather than accept money from the SEC.
Musk has a long and storied history with the SEC, which he has said he does not respect. In 2018, Musk briefly pretended he’d take Tesla private before admitting two weeks later Tesla would stay public. The SEC then sued him over a tweet saying he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private.
Reuters reported The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has given Elon Musk until Monday to respond to an offer to resolve a probe into the billionaire’s $44-billion takeover of Twitter in 2022, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The development, which signals the investigation may be nearing a conclusion, is the latest salvo in a year-long public feud between the top U.S. markets regulator and the world’s richest man.
Musk on Thursday posted on X a copy of a letter sent by his lawyer to the SEC Chair Gary Gensler saying the agency had given Musk 48 hours to agree to pay a penalty to settle the probe or face civil charges, and demanding to know whether Gensler was personally behind the settlement.
CNBC reported The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission has issued a “settlement demand” to Elon Musk, the tech billionaire disclosed in a social media post on Thursday.
The post included a copy of a letter sent by Musk’s attorney, Quinn Emanuel Partner Alex Spiro, to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The letter said the federal agency had pressured Musk to agree to a settlement including a fine within 48 hours, or “face charges on numerous counts” regarding “Certain Purchases, Sales and Disclosure of Twitter Shares.”
The SEC has been investigating whether Musk, or anyone else working with him, committed securities fraud in 2022 as the Tesla CEO sold shares in his car company Tesla and shored up a stake in Twitter ahead of his leveraged buyout of the social network that is now known as X.
In my opinion, I don’t understand why billionaire Elon Musk is so angry about the SEC requiring a “settlement demand.” Why would one of the richest man in the world choose not to pay what he owed?