Tesla Is Said to Be Subpoenaed by S.E.C. Over Elon Musk Tweet

Wow, one tweet & he gets subpoenaed. When will Trump be served his subpoena?

True definition of insider trading. As Musk watches Tesla wither, like deLorean, Edsel, and all other self ego cars, watch Detroit cry crocodile tears, investors hoping China will bail him out, and Tesla go the way of AMC and Saturn.

Yet another alleged grown up who should not be left alone with a smartphone and access to a Twitter account.

Musk tried -- and temporarily succeeded -- in illegally inflating the price of his company's stock.

Another techie divorced from the real world. Oy!

What took the SEC so long? When Musk first opened his mouth, his tweets, they should have been all over him like white on rice. What he was doing, and its legitimacy (or lack thereof), was clear to all from the very first sentence. So again, what took them so long? Billions were made and lost in the first hours while they, securities and financial watch-dogs, stood aside doing nothing. Billions made and lost in arguably illegal fashion. That said, and leaving all that aside, Musk is but one more indication of a modern affliction he shares with Trump. An addiction to Twitter. And like all addictions the first thing you lose is the ability to constrain yourself and your behavior. In this case you lose the ability to function as a normal adult and return to being an adolescent, fueled by the fires of perceived outrage and the like. It's a modern affliction. Tweeting. And like all addictions the solution is simple, yet oh so difficult. Just stop. It's perplexing to those of us unaffected by the "disease" but it seems he can't (stop), as many can't. It's a Digital Narcotic isn't it? A Digital Opioid. And here's the rub of it. Twitter is only one of many such digital "substances" that we have been busy creating, and all of it reflects the dark underbelly of our times as we lose ourselves in the mindlessness of it. So it goes I suppose. John~ American Net'Zen

It may have been a "flip" tweet as the article says. However, $10 billion was made and lost in the immediate hours following -- $6 billion in gain in Tesla stock (including over $1 billion in Musk's own holdings) and $4 billion in movement in the options market. This is no chump change. Cannot be taken lightly, and glad SEC is finally on it. Furthermore, elsewhere Musk has been quoted as tweeting that he's had discussions with the Saudi sovereign fund for "two years" about going private. Yet, he bought $25 million of Tesla stock in the open market two months ago for $340 each while being privy to discussions about going private that were not shared in any filing or with investors. That is also illegal. Lastly, it seems a lot of commenters don't understand short selling. It is a totally legal activity, and numerous studies have shown that this contributes to market efficiencies.

The terminally arrogant and already sinking Musk dug his own grave the day he threw whatever sliver of decency and humanity that remained in that big head of his to the wind, and started his very public and very ugly, narcissistic cat fight with expert Thailand divers insisting that he and he alone had the technical 'expertise' to save the twelve soccer team boys from the Thai cave. I have a distinct feeling that Musk vis-a-vis Tesla is indeed in a very deep and potentially fatal financial tailspin and he did not help himself in the least with his latest attempt to test the growing anti-Musk headwaters by using his Silicon Valley-Girl power to imply that a possible Saudi partnership was the answer to the big Tesla dilemmas of now three dead driverless car passengers not to mention insanely pricey vehicles that can't even pass basic state inspections. A screw or two loose is my diagnosis.

Is there any reason the S.E.C. isn't giving Trump a subpoena? Trumps tweets and actions have had damaging impact on several stocks and the markets in general. He is masterfully manipulating the stock market. Are his actions giving certain people shorts?

Not sure if others read, but there was an article on Bloomberg news - musk did this also to purposefully defraud investors in a convertible bond issuance. Effectively at 380 the bond converted to equity so Tesla wouldn’t have to pay interest and principal. Guess what price the stock rose to that day - the trigger price. Musk is a fraud and being at the helm of a major public company requires proper conduct and he did the worst thing of all - purposefully lie to investors for his ego, personal gain, and vanity. Why are all the liberals ready to throw bankers involved in mortgage back securities in jail when they never made such obviously false statements to anyone but recuse musk of his total disregard for our capital markets laws?

The media misrepresents reality with respect to the viability of electric vehicles and that affects the stock price of Tesla. Anyone can lie about the viability of electric vehicles and many do all the time. The SEC should look into who prints disparaging lies about electric vehicles and Tesla. Could be investors, could be competition. Oil people surely aren't happy about electric vehicles. The "journalists" are just like average Joes when it comes to technology. What does Leslie Stall know about electric vehicles, but she sure was impressed with the wealthy oil Saudis. I believe our government is owned by old dying corporations who will cling to their market as the world burns. Thanks Supreme Court for siding with the cruel masters. Thanks Congress for being so affordable. Thank you fellow citizens for being such good serfs who know their place.

Those who short stocks...now tell me what good are they to our society. At least Musk has created something important to our society; a rocket engine that is usable and a well handling long range car that is not necessarily dependent on fossil fuel.

So, an executive making a Tweet that calls into question his judgment and intentions draws a federal subpoena when its Mr. Musk, but disapproving scowls when its Mr. Trump?

Seems Musk tried a Trumpian approach (tweeting lies and wishful thinking as though they were facts).

He said funding secured. He seems to have indeed secured 5Billion. He didn't say he secured full funding. Besides he said "considering" which is way better what the short sellers have been doing: making up news every other day.

Blame it all on the Bolivian Marching Powder.

A little contribution to the trump campaign, the Committee to Re-Elect the President, and this can all go away. Understand?

Musk has a severe case of what I call the "Ross Perot Syndrome." This where one has an incredible and unexpected business success that makes one think he is a genius, smarter than the average stockholder and/or journalist. Perot, after having made his fortune selling his business to GM, ran for president. It would be kind to merely say he was unhinged. Mikey Bloomberg, thought vastly more intelligent than Perot, also has a case of it, though less severe. Musk is in the deep end of it. He needs the men with the butterfly net and straight jacket. In my opinion, neither SpaceX nor Tesla will ever make a dime. And Musk isn't helping matters

The stock market is the perfect meme of the Trump Era.

By far the most remarkable thing about Elon is that is helping to transition the auto industry off gas powered vehicles. His positive impact on the environment, global health of people, and hopefully the US economy (if we can capture the value of electric vehicle revolution and not let it to to China) will be remarkable. This does not give him a "pass" at all from making stupid comments to Wall Street, silly tweets, etc. Indeed he should get some PR training. But let's keep things in perspective.

And how does this stack up to trump's twitter behaviour.

If the SEC has sent a subpoena this means the staff has gone to the Commission for approval of a formal investigation and obtained that approval. This is no longer an inquiry or merely asking questions. A reckless tweet from Musk that at a minimum will cost his company much in terms of legal defense costs. Foolish

My guess is a call from GM is what prompted the SEC.

Elon Musk's latest Tweet shows that he, a comfortable billionaire, thinks himself above the Law. What is serious securities fraud, leading to artificial fluctuations in the market to the tune of millions of dollars, is treated with less action than Eric Garner selling loose cigarettes. Think about that.

Musk, for whatever reason (to stick it to the short sellers?, or to lessen the scrutiny as to the company's funding and cash flow?) made a false statement. As an immediate and direct result, Tesla stock, of which he owns tens of millions of dollar worth, immediately went up substantially. It would be to the benefit of the investing public and the stock market if the SEC initiates appropriate legal action. Otherwise, a step that clearly constitutes fraudulent market manipulation would have received a pass ....

The sec then should investigate our sitting president for his tweet storms which short sellers must be also getting rich on.

How much longer until people finally admit this man is a fraud? His solution to every terrible financial report for Tesla is to change the subject. Lost a few hundred million last quarter? Respond with “I just sent a car into space” or “I’m about to build an unfeasible hyperloop” or “I promise for the 20th time that we will be profitable next quarter”. Musk is Trump—they are both massive frauds. Except one is liberal, so he gets a free pass for his lies and misdirection.

Elon was imbibing in California’s newest legalized cash crop when wrote that tweet. Share price of $420?? Another pothead ceo who shouldn’t be tweeting—like that guy from Netflix a few years back.

When will the SEC subpoena any Trumps and their associates to investigate how much they illegally made on the market through Trump's constant manipulation of stocks via Twitter comments?

Musk is an intelligent and talented man, but his sense of reality seems to be tenuous, since one of his main goals is to colonize Mars. I think you might expect that someone like that is likely to find it difficult to live with the frustrations of down to earth reality, and perhaps will be tempted to start bending or breaking the rules, perhaps unconsciously. However whatever distortions of reality may be affecting Mr. Musk are quite negligible compared to the incredible over-valuing given to Tesla by its investors. The gross irrationality of the stock market leads me to think that we are heading for a crash.

The trouble that Tesla finds itself in is best summarized by the heading of a companion article to this in today's Times: "A Question for Tesla’s Board: What Was Elon Musk’s Mental State?". Any time a reputable news source (yes, I think the NYTimes qualifies) can seriously ask that question about a company's CEO, said company is in trouble. It might be time for Mr. Musk to go on a longer R&R leave, or step down altogether; he had to know that making these statements would get him and Tesla in significant trouble. His tweets may have saddled Tesla with billions of dollars in legal liabilities.

"Fully secured" is clearly a misstatement of a material fact, knowingly and intentionally made, in violation of federal securities laws. Several large law firms thank you for all of the work, Elon. The shareholders won't feel the same way.

Seems like an open and shut case. Executives of every publicly-traded company know you can't make this kind of statement. Musk might be a genius, but this was an astonishingly dumb move.

Will the SEC look into Trump's tweets?

I've been so impressed with what Tesla and SpaceX have accomplished for years, but Musk's behavior has been increasingly going off the deep end lately and he needs to be reined in before he destroys everything he and his employees have worked so hard to create. Twitter, more than any other tool I can remember, seems to empower even the smartest (or dumbest) among us to become completely unhinged.

I've had this debate about whether twitter/fb qualifies as public disclosure - but with tiny companies who are stubborn and/or trying to save on the costs of using business wire etc. The ability to release news to the public on these alternate platforms is not intended for companies like Tesla (although not strictly prohibited to my knowledge). However, in doing so, Mr. Musk showed very poor judgement and impulse and put his board and company at risk. Mr. Musk - you are generally acknowledged to be incredibly smart. Please don't use Trump's definition of smart....and don't be a Silicon Valley know-it-all bro either.

I would never buy a Saudi financed car! They are top the pariah list along withN Korea.

You know your company is in financial trouble when you go against all better judgement and announce funding "secured" in an effort to stick it to the shorts.

I guess that answers the question about how wise it is for a Palo Alto billionaire to eat a bunch of LSD (allegedly) with no one around to babysit.

I still don't see the problem with saying he's taking the company private. The problem only comes with the investors running around like squirrels trying to make money off of everything Musk does. Because Musk doesn't follow any conventional wisdom, but instead reasons from First Principles, the finance types just don't understand what he's doing. In any case, he's definitely succeeded in his ultimate goal of "accelerating the advent of sustainable transport". Before Tesla, not a single manufacturer had an EV roadmap. Today, they all do.

They come to the US for the opportunity. But, don't like the laws? Even Elon is not above the law. I say make him submit to the laws of the land. Even if he is from Mars he must recognize that the rules of the game are. If not he will need to learn the hard way.

It was immature of him to post on twitter His dislike of short sellers is well known so his actions were clearly meant to negatively impact them The more interesting question is what happens next