US SEC Chair Gary Gensler slapped a notice to tech billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday, launching a fresh investigation into Neuralink, Musk’s brain-computer interface (BCI) company. The development comes just a month before Gensler steps down from the US SEC Chair position on January 20. Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro has responded to this by putting out the details of the charges.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be preparing for additional charges against Tesla Chair Elon Musk while also reopening an investigation into his neurotechnology company, Neuralink.
Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, has responded to the SEC chair Gary Gensler in a letter shared on the social media platform X. The letter notes that the US SEC has given Musk a 48-hour deadline to accept the monetary settlement or face charges on “numerous counts”.
However, the securities regulator has failed to mention the exact nature of these charges while referring to a multi-year investigation by the agency. Additionally, the SEC has revived its probe into Neuralink, Musk’s brain-computer interface venture. Musk wrote: “Oh Gary, how could you do this to me?”
Calls for an investigation into Neuralink first surfaced back in 2023. Back then lawmakers raised concerns over Musk’s claims regarding the safety of the company’s brain implant technology. Slamming the SEC, Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro said that the recent SEC actions are nothing but an “endless investigation campaign” targeting the billionaire entrepreneur.
US SEC Chair Gary Gensler holds a very bad reputation, especially in the crypto space, for his high-handed regulatory approach. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that the company lost more than $150 million in a legal battle with the SEC because of Gensler.
Elon Musk’s history with the SEC includes a $20 million settlement in 2018 over his tweets claiming that Tesla would go private and that the necessary funding had been secured. Elon Musk also tasked his AI, Grok, with creating an illustration of SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The resulting image depicted a snail in a business suit, referencing Gary the Snail from SpongeBob SquarePants.
The crypto community has been celebrating Gary Gensler’s ouster calling it an end to the tough regulatory regime for the industry. All eyes are on incoming SEC chair Paul Atkins who is set to revive the SEC with friendlier crypto reforms.
“Under his leadership, the SEC may move away from aggressive tactics that prioritize headline-grabbing penalties over substantive outcomes,” wrote lawyers at US legal firm Anderson PC.
On the other hand, Elon Musk will be working at the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) and has recently proposed measures to end US inflation with the focus on cutting the federal spending.
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