In its most recent regulatory filing, Tesla has disclosed it was issued a subpoena by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in relation to previous rulings issued by the government agency.
According to the 10-K filing dated February 4, 2022, the automaker says it was issued with the subpoena on November 16, 2021.
Tesla says the SEC was “seeking information on our governance processes around compliance with the SEC settlement, as amended.”
“For example, 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. 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.”
The settlement referenced is in regards to CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 tweet in which he famously announced plans to take Tesla private with “funding secured.”
That investigation was settled with Tesla and Musk agreeing to pay fines, with the automaker also agreeing to institute processes around the CEO’s tweets that contain material information about the company.
As suggested by Reuters, this subpoena was likely the result of Musk’s tweet on November 6, 2021 in which he asked his Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla (TSLA).
Musk said he would follow through on the results of the poll, and he did with 57.9% of respondents saying he should sell the shares.
The share sale also generated a lawsuit, with an investor seeking to obtain documentation to identify if the tweets were reviewed or pre-approved in advance.
Investor lawsuit filed over Elon Musk’s tweets on stock sales
Disclosure – Darryn holds shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) and has no plans to change any positions within 72 hours.
