Just-In: US SEC Probing Elon Musk; Is Elon Building A Counter Case Against SEC?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether recent stock sales by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk “violated insider trading rules”, the Wall Street Journal reported. This move has come just a day after Musk admitted that he is building a case against the federal agency.

Yesterday replying to a  Netizens random theory regarding Elon Musk ramping up with evidence to go against the SEC publicly, he said that ‘Building a case is exactly what I’ve been doing’.

Elon accuses SEC for harassing him and Tesla

As per reports, the probe began in 2021 after Elon’s brother Kimbal sold shares of Tesla worth $108 million, a day before Musk did a Twitter poll where he asked whether he should offload 10% of his stake in the company.

Elon Musk told the Financial Times that Kimbal Musk did not know about the Twitter poll till it was posted. However, his lawyers were “aware” of the poll.

Last week, Tesla Chief alleged that the SEC is harassing him and Tesla with an endless investigation. He believes that the commission is doing this to him for being an outspoken critic of the government. However, there is no statement being made by the SEC.

“I didn’t start it, but sure will end it”

Elon Musk has been very outspoken against SEC. Back in 2018, SEC filed a case against Tesla Chief for his “funding secured” comment. He claimed that the agency was working for people shorting the electric automaker. In this scenario, it didn’t turn out to be Elon’s way as they both reached a settlement. Where Musk was made to step down as the chairman of the board. In addition Tesla and Musk each had to pay $20 million in fines.

To this Elon didn’t want his EV manufacturing company to pay and suffer for his comments. But he also cannot directly pay for it. He went on to buy $20 million worth of shares from Tesla which ended up in a 71,000 additional Tesla shares deal. This settlement eventually helped Musk to add more shares.

Tesla’s shares are down about 33% since Musk began selling billions of dollars worth of shares on November 8. 58% of the voters asked Elon to sell his share.