SEC slaps Tesla with a subpoena over Elon Musk tweets, report says
No entity involved will confirm or deny what's actually going on.
Another day, another step deeper into the mystery surrounding Tesla and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. On the docket today? Subpoenas -- reportedly.
The SEC has reportedly shifted its Tesla investigation into high gear, Fox Business reports, sending subpoenas to the California-based automaker regarding its potential plans to go private. The subpoenas are intended to help the SEC determine whether or not Musk's tweets and blog posts "intentionally misled investors." Fox Business says that this means the investigation has moved into a more formal phase.
It's unclear what happens next in the SEC's investigation, but then again, nearly every inch of this situation is pretty unclear.
Both Tesla and the SEC declined to comment on the matter. The SEC neither confirmed nor denied that it was even looking into Tesla when that report first surfaced, as well.
Elon Musk kicked this whole fiasco off last Tuesday when he tweeted, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420 [per share]. Funding secured." Musk followed that up later in the day with a blog post, explaining his reasoning for wanting to take the company private again. The next day, the first report circulated claiming that the SEC was looking into the matter, as saying funding is secure when it isn't could be a pretty serious crime.
On Aug. 10, multiple outlets attempted to find the source of Tesla's funding, calling just about every major investor under the sun, all of which denied knowledge of any secured funding. On Aug. 13, Musk wrote another blog post, claiming that Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund was behind the funding, but conflicting reports from Bloomberg and Reuters said that Saudi Arabia both was and was not that source.
Most recently, Tesla's board announced a three-member committee that would oversee any potential proposals from Musk before bringing it to the full board. Tesla's board still has not yet seen or voted on any official decision to go private, and even if the board said yes, the shareholders would still need to vote on it.
Solar Installer Guides
Other Energy Saving Guides
Our Experts