The SEC sues Elon Musk for his August 2018 tweet that he has secured external finance to convert Tesla into a private company.

Amy Hamilton

2018-09-29 12:39:00 Sat ET

The Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) sues Elon Musk for his August 2018 tweet that he has secured external finance to convert Tesla into a private company. Federal regulators accuse Musk of misleading stock market investors with false public statements. This regulatory move can potentially oust Musk out of his current chief executive leadership at the electric carmaker Tesla. The S.E.C. files a recent lawsuit in the federal court in New York to accuse Musk of committing fraud by making false public statements that may inadvertently be detrimental to shareholder value.

This lawsuit seeks to bar Musk, who is both the CEO and executive chairman at Tesla, from serving as an executive director of public corporations such as Tesla. This punishment is one of the most serious remedies that the S.E.C. can impose against corporate executive incumbents. From a regulatory viewpoint, Musk might be reckless in not knowing the fact that his public statements can mislead stock market investors who maintain an active interest in Tesla shares. Both in truth and in fact, Musk has never confirmed any key deal terms such as deal price and stock exchange etc with any relevant source of external finance. Tesla shares tumble 12% in direct response to this S.E.C. lawsuit.

The S.E.C. eventually settles this lawsuit with Elon Musk who has to relinquish his chairman role but remains the CEO with complete corporate control at Tesla.

As part of this swift legal settlement, Musk and Tesla have to pay hefty fines of $20 million each. Musk and Tesla neither admit nor deny any egregious mistakes that the S.E.C. alleges in recent times.

Elon Musk ultimately has to abort his previous plan to transform Tesla into a private company. This case sets a landmark precedent for CEOs and executive chairmen who might inadvertently erode shareholder value via their erroneous tweets, public statements, articles, blogs, and posts etc.

S.E.C. regulatory scrutiny and oversight thus serve as a safety valve that prevents CEOs and executive chairmen or chairwomen from social engagement that might result in false public statements.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Financial institutions benefit from higher equity risk premiums and interest rate spreads.

Charlene Vos

2017-04-01 06:40:00 Saturday ET

Financial institutions benefit from higher equity risk premiums and interest rate spreads.

With the current interest rate hike, large banks and insurance companies are likely to benefit from higher equity risk premiums and interest rate spreads.

+See More

Fundamental value investors find it more difficult to ferret out individual stocks.

James Campbell

2017-06-03 05:35:00 Saturday ET

Fundamental value investors find it more difficult to ferret out individual stocks.

Fundamental value investors, who intend to manage their stock portfolios like Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, now find it more difficult to ferret out indiv

+See More

These famous quotes of self-made billionaires are inspirational words of wisdom on investment management.

Joseph Corr

2017-06-27 05:40:00 Tuesday ET

These famous quotes of self-made billionaires are inspirational words of wisdom on investment management.

These famous quotes of self-made billionaires are inspirational words of wisdom on financial management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. For financial

+See More

Conservative Party wins the British parliamentary majority in the general election with hefty British pound appreciation.

Jonah Whanau

2020-01-08 08:25:00 Wednesday ET

Conservative Party wins the British parliamentary majority in the general election with hefty British pound appreciation.

Conservative Party wins the British parliamentary majority in the general election with hefty British pound appreciation. In response to this general electi

+See More

OPEC countries have cut the global glut of oil production in order to boost the oil price in recent years.

Monica McNeil

2018-05-11 09:37:00 Friday ET

OPEC countries have cut the global glut of oil production in order to boost the oil price in recent years.

OPEC countries have cut the global glut of oil production in recent years while the resultant oil price has surged from $30 to $78 per barrel from 2015 to 2

+See More

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fundamental analysis of Palantir (U.S. stock symbol: $PLTR).

Olivia London

2025-10-04 13:37:00 Saturday ET

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fundamental analysis of Palantir (U.S. stock symbol: $PLTR).

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fund

+See More