Why Elon Musk’s SEC Settlement Is Critical for Electric Vehicles
Knowledge at WhartonOct 02, 2018
The Facts
In a court brief on Tuesday, Elon Musk's lawyer alleged that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been violating the Tesla CEO's freedom of speech by continuing to enforce a 2018 securities fraud settlement against him.
The dispute stems from a 2018 tweet in which Musk said he had the “funding secured” to take Tesla private, resulting in the company's stock soaring. But the funding was reportedly not secured and the company remained public; Musk signed an agreement with the SEC in which he and Tesla agreed to pay $20M for the misleading tweet.
The Spin
Narrative B
With the SEC paying such close attention to Musk, one can't help but wonder why the Commission doesn't handle more pressing issues, like the increasing number of publicly traded "blank-check" companies. The SEC is hypocritically targeting a high-profile and influential figure and assaulting freedom of speech.
Nerd narrative
There's a 49% chance that Elon Musk will become the first trillionaire, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
