The SEC issued a subpoena to the EV maker, seeking information related to the settlement reached on the 2018 Tweetgate affair.
Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report is not done with the regulators regarding its whimsical boss’s famous September 2018 tweet about wanting to take the electric-vehicle manufacturer out of the stock market.
Tesla believed that this affair was in the rear-view mirror after it reached a $40 million agreement a month and a half after the tweet. In fact, the Austin company still has to bite its fingers.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed Tesla in November, requesting information related to the settlement, which mandated that the company vet Elon Musk’s tweets on information that could weigh on the stock.
“The SEC had issued subpoenas to Tesla in connection with Elon Musk’s prior statement that he was considering taking Tesla private. The take-private investigation was resolved and closed with a settlement entered into with the SEC in September 2018 and as further clarified in April 2019 in an amendment,” the company said on Monday in its 10-K filing.
But: “More recently, on November 16, 2021, the SEC issued a subpoena to us seeking information on our governance processes around compliance with the SEC settlement, as amended,” Tesla added.
Tesla does not give further details, in particular on the nature of the information required by the SEC. But noteworthy is that the request was made 15 days after Musk sought the opinion of his fans on Twitter on the possibility of selling part of his stake in Tesla.
“Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?” Musk posted on Twitter on November 6, 2021.
He continued: “I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes.”
Feud With the Biden Administration
The Tweetgate affair started on Aug. 7, 2018, with this post by Musk on his Twitter account. The billionaire is the face and often the main spokesperson for the manufacturer of electric vehicles.
The tweet shook Tesla stock. The SEC filed a complaint against Musk.
A settlement was reached and announced on Sept. 29, 2018. It required Musk to step down as Tesla’s chairman. Tesla and Musk agreed to pay $40 million in penalties. Tesla also agreed to have the company’s lawyers preapprove tweets with material information about the company.
Musk agreed to step down as chairman and two new independent directors were appointed.
Musk is also being sued by investors who said they had been impacted by the famous tweet.
The disclosure of the subpoena comes amid a showdown between Musk and the White House. An online petition to pressure President Joe Biden to acknowledge the billionaire has already been signed by more than 58,000 people as of time of writing.
The authors, encouraged by Musk, say that the new administration are intentionally snubbing Tesla’s CEO despite the company being the largest EV manufacturer in the U.S.
The fact that Musk was not invited by the White House to discuss the president’s signature $1.75 trillion Build Back Better legislation, while the bosses of Ford (F) – Get Ford Motor Company Report and GM (GM) – Get General Motors Company Report were invited added fuel to the fire.
And Musk himself just keeps kicking. He thus called Biden a ‘damp puppet.”
