Shares of Tesla (TSLA) dropped in morning trading after Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, mocked the Securities and Exchange Commission in a tweet, calling the agency the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission.” Last weekend Musk reached an agreement with the SEC to settle fraud charges, and that charge is currently pending approval from a federal judge.
MUSK MOCKS SEC: On Thursday, Musk tweeted, in an apparent reference to the SEC, “Just want to [sic] that the Shortseller Enrichment Commission is doing incredible work. And the name change is so on point!”. Musk’s tweet came just hours after Musk and the SEC were told by U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan, who must approve the deal, to explain why the settlement is “fair and reasonable” by October 11, Bloomberg reported. Separately, Musk took aim at BlackRock (BLK) and other large fund managers for fueling short sellers. Musk alleged in a tweet that BlackRock and other firms pocket “excessive profit from short lending while pretending to charge low rates for ‘passive’ index tracking”.
SEC SETTLEMENT: This past weekend, the SEC announced that Musk agreed to settle the securities fraud charge brought against him last week. The settlement requires that Musk will step down as Tesla’s chairman and will be ineligible to be re-elected chairman for three years. Additionally, Tesla will appoint two new independent directors to its board and both the CEO and company will each pay $20M penalties to settle allegations that Musk misled investors in August by tweeting that he was considering taking Tesla private and had secured funding for the effort. According to the SEC’s complaint, Musk’s misleading tweets caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by over 6% on August 7, and led to “significant market disruption.” Additionally, the SEC is requiring that Musk get approval from the company’s lawyer before tweeting any more company news, which reports had said could clamp down on Musk’s “headline-grabbing, unpredictable approach to promoting Tesla’s brand.” Recode’s Teddy Schleifer reported via Twitter after the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission” tweet that the SEC agreement on Musk’s tweets “does not take effect for 90 days from the settlement date, per source. So he still has ~80 days to tweet whatever he wants”. The SEC declined to comment on Musk’s tweet, Schleifer said. Additionally, Fox Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino also tweeted, saying that the “@SEC_Enforcement continues to investigate @Tesla over possible misstatements on production/profitability targets-sources focus is on stated targets for Model 3/co profitability. SEC sources say case is tougher case than @elonmusk ‘funding secured’ tweet”.
