According to the latest information disclosed by Tesla, Tesla CEO musk, who often creates hot topics on social media, has been targeted by the SEC again.
According to the company's previously disclosed form 10-K, Tesla added the following sentence when describing a series of regulatory investigation requirements it faced: "as recently as November 16, 2021, the securities and Exchange Commission issued a subpoena to the company asking Tesla to provide management procedures related to the implementation of the 2018 settlement."
(source: Tesla form 10-K)
In brief, musk said on social media that he tried to privatize the company in 2018, and then was charged with securities fraud by the US SEC. In September 2018, the two sides reached an agreement that Tesla needs to supervise Musk's public statement. Then, in early 2019, Musk's remarks on production angered the sec. The two sides adjusted the settlement in April of that year, which clearly stipulated that musk could not make a public statement without the permission of the company's lawyer.
Given Musk's often controversial remarks in the past year, it will naturally attract regulatory attention, but the date of the SEC's subpoena also contains additional information.
Although Tesla did not specify in its annual report what the subpoena was to investigate, just ten days before the subpoena was issued by the U.S. securities regulator, musk released a twitter survey to ask netizens whether he should sell 10% of Tesla's position. Affected by this news, the company's share price fell 16% in the next two days. In fact, two days before that weekend, Tesla's share price has reached an all-time high.
(daily chart of Tesla share price, source: tradingview)
It is worth mentioning that Musk's remarks in 2018, in addition to leading to regulatory investigations, have not yet led to the completion of the lawsuit. In the Tesla investor class action case heard in San Francisco Federal Court last week, Musk's lawyer said that the defendant's remarks about considering privatizing the company were "completely true".
