US securities regulators have responded to allegations that they are harassing Elon Musk, writing in a letter that they are following a judge’s instructions when trying to speak with the Tesla CEO’s attorney. about his posts on Twitter.
In a letter dated Friday, Steven Buchholz of Securities and Exchange Commission The San Francisco office wrote that the judge handled a securities lawsuit against Musk Encourage both sides to talk before raising the issue with the court.
He also denied that the agency issued the subpoena in the Musk case on Twitter and that the SEC was taking too long to distribute the $40 million (about 298 crore) penalty from Musk and Tesla that is supposed to belong to Tesla shareholders.
Earlier Thursday, Musk’s attorneys sent a letter to US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan accusing the SEC of harassing him with investigations and subpoenas over his Twitter posts. . In 2018, Musk and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million (approximately $149) in civil penalties for Musk’s tweets about having the funds to take the company private for $420. dollars (about Rs 31,300) per share. Funding is unsecured and the company remains public. The settlement outlined changes to governance, including Musk’s resignation as chairman of the board, as well as approval of Musk’s tweets.
The letter from attorney Alex Spiro accuses the SEC of trying to “silence” Musk, in large part because he is an outspoken critic of the government.
“The SEC’s excessive efforts appear to be calculated to cool down his enforcement of First Amendment rights rather than to uniformly enforce applicable laws,” the letter states. .
Spiro also questioned why the SEC did not distribute $40 million in fines to Tesla shareholders more than three years after the settlement.
Buccholz wrote that during the 2019 contempt hearing, the judge encouraged the parties to make good faith efforts to meet before bringing up any compliance issues with the court.
“The Commission’s enforcement officers, accordingly, sought to meet and confer with counsel to Tesla and Mr. Musk to address any concerns regarding Tesla and Mr. Musk’s compliance with the rulings. revised court decision,” Buchholz wrote.
The SEC followed the court order in distributing the payments, and that process is nearing completion, his letter said.
