Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk continues to beef with the Securities and Exchange Commission. His latest shot at the government agency responsible for enforcing federal securities laws came in a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday.
“I want to be clear, I do not respect the SEC,” Musk said in the interview when pressed on compliance with a recent settlement with the agency.
Musk settled an SEC complaint in September related to an August 7, 2018 tweet that said he could take Tesla private at $420 per share — a substantial premium to its trading price at the time — and that funding for the transaction had been secured.
The SEC’s complaint alleged that, in truth, Musk knew that the potential transaction was uncertain and subject to numerous contingencies. Musk had not discussed specific deal terms, including price, with any potential financing partners, and his statements about the possible transaction lacked an adequate basis in fact. According to the SEC’s complaint, Musk’s misleading tweets caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by over six percent on August 7, and led to significant market disruption.
Under the terms of the settlement, Musk and Tesla have agreed to settle the charges against them without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations. Among other relief, the settlements required that: Musk step down as Tesla’s Chairman and be replaced by an independent Chairman; Tesla will appoint a total of two new independent directors to its board; Tesla establish a new committee of independent directors and put in place additional controls and procedures to oversee Musk’s communications; Musk and Tesla pay separate $20 million penalties.
Less than a week after striking the settlement, Musk tweeted a barb that the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission is doing incredible work.”
When asked in Sunday’s interview why he agreed to abide by the settlement, Musk said, “Because I have respect for the justice system.”