As Twitter desperately tries to fend off his hostile takeover bid, Elon Musk could be facing another potential battle with the federal government, with both the Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice reportedly poised to launch an investigation targeting him.
News of potential looming federal probes of Musk, who has previously clashed with the SEC over his ownership of carmaker Tesla, came in a Wednesday report from Charles Gasparino of Fox Business Network. It was not clear whether the agencies are looking into Musk’s handling of Tesla, his $41 billion bid to take Twitter private, or both.
“Both the DOJ and the SEC are clearly scrutinizing this entire matter,” Gasparino said. “Now, we’re getting this from lawyers … they’re clearly monitoring and scrutinizing this entire issue, whether he filed the right forms, whether there’s a stock manipulation case here, whether he’s making public statements that he probably shouldn’t make. … What we do know is that he’s stirred up a regulatory hornets’ nest. DOJ, SEC, I’m getting this from lawyers who deal with them.”
The veteran business journalist said that the Justice Department faces a high bar for bringing a criminal case against Musk, but the SEC could have an easier time coming down on the world’s richest man if it can show he manipulated stock in companies in which he held stakes.
Gasparino tweeted on Thursday: “@elonmusk offers to buy the rest of @Twitter a legal source tells @FoxBusiness @SECGov and @TheJusticeDept have launched what he described as a ‘joint investigation’ into a myriad of Musk regulatory issues primarily involving @Tesla.”
Musk’s battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission date back to 2018, when the SEC filed a complaint targeting him after he announced he wanted to take Tesla private. Musk tweeted at the time, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”
The SEC wrote in the complaint:
Musk made his false and misleading public statements about taking Tesla private using his mobile phone in the middle of the active trading day. He did not discuss the content of the statements with anyone else prior to publishing them to his over 22 million Twitter followers and anyone else with access to the Internet. He also did not inform Nasdaq that he intended to make this public announcement, as Nasdaq rules required.
“This unjustified action by the SEC leaves me deeply saddened and disappointed,” Musk responded. “I have always taken action in the best interests of truth, transparency and investors. Integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way.”
This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
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