SEC Charges Tesla CEO Elon Musk with Fraud for Irresponsible Social Media Posts

Illegal to do what? Make unsubstantiated claims to the public? A lot of people should be in jail then.

The whole lawsuit is a joke. If it was illegal they wouldn't go after him with this shit not worthy of being written on a handkerchief. They'd raise criminal charges.

It is illegal, the justice department is investigating. The previous tweets about burning short sellers might come into play. It is more difficult to prove in criminal court. But most people will admit, it is highly likely that tweet had a specific purpose to burn short sellers. Hopefully there isn't emails that get subpoena'd that can prove it.

It is 100% illegal to release any statements trying to produce a move in equities prices.
 
The question still remains Why is the SEC involved? If the shareholders were really mislead they should bring the suit.
Just guessing here, but maybe they're involved because it's their job? And at least one individual (he might be trying to start a class action, don't remember off the top of my head) is bringing a separate suit against him for this incident.

Or if he did really break the law this is not supposed to be a civil lawsuit but a criminal case, right?
Being snarky won't make me go away.
If I recall correctly the DOJ was already investigating Musk in connection to the tweets, if they think they have a case I'm sure there will be criminal charges filed as well.
 
I used "small crowd" exactly because the number of people doesn't make a difference in legal terms. A statement on a personal social media account can't be interpreted differently based on the number of followers the account has. A PA system or broadcast is not your private medium, you can't use it to share your feelings, opinions and wild ideas.

Of course a CEO has to be responsible for not posting stupid shit about the company he's running. But it's hardly criminal. If his investors or board of directors would give him heat for it, that would be understandable. But this a government agency going on a witch hunt.

I would argue that a social media account accessible by the general public is essentially the same thing as a PA broadcast. There is nothing private about it. If it was an email to 500 people or heck, 50,000 people, fine. Not a public tweet.
 
Amazes me people still defend this POS. He should have been brought up on charges for misleading investors 2+ years ago.

Because he has done more good for this world than the millions of blood sucking leeches on the stock market. I hope he does go private again, better yet, transfer his wealth into SpaceX and bankrupt Telsa and leave the investors in a hole.
 
I am amazed at the ignorance of a few posters in this thread. It's like this guy has cured cancer or something. It doesn't matter if he is Santa Claus or Jesus Christ he is an officer of a publicly held company and is held a higher standard than Joe Sixpack who is not. There is a reason there are laws for how a person who is entrusted with shareholder money must operate.

He can tweet whatever the hell he wants, but he can't tweet lies to try to manipulate his own company's stock price in his capacity. The SEC found in their almost two month investigation his board of directors knew absolutely nothing about the shit he was spewing all over Twitter. He said he was taking the company private and had secured funding but the board knew nothing about that. That's not even possible. He made it all up. And then he decided to settle on a $420 share price because he thought it would make his girlfriend laugh "due to his recent discovery of the marijuana culture and the significance of 420". I shit you not. There is a huge difference between intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ). He acts as if his EQ is that of a teenager.

How could a guy who supposedly is so smart not know what a colossal fuck up he was making? Hell the damn SEC even offered to settle with him and he turned it down. Geez WTF!? Now he will likely lose his ability to even be an officer at Tesla any longer. Gone. Done. He is going to be sued so hard by shorts and longs alike that Tesla will never recover. Tesla holds a huge amount of debt as it is that is tied to the stock price and he has tanked it. Investors are giving up. They will be sold off to the highest bidder and it will be entirely his fault. He will be extremely lucky to avoid jail time with the other DOJ investigation.

This is not what a "visionary" does. This is not what a "genius" does.
 
wtf does being a visionary have to do with stock markets. All he cares about is the products he produces and changing the world for the better. Not focusing on greed and wealth. If investors choose to jump on for the ride thats their choice but it was never a core goal of Tesla.

He has done many great things so far, more than you or most people will ever achieve in their lives.

Thanks to this news, Telsa shares have tanked again, so now I guess the SEC are manipulating the market with stupid announcements huh?
 
wtf does being a visionary have to do with stock markets. All he cares about is the products he produces and changing the world for the better. Not focusing on greed and wealth. If investors choose to jump on for the ride thats their choice but it was never a core goal of Tesla.

He has done many great things so far, more than you or most people will ever achieve in their lives.

Thanks to this news, Telsa shares have tanked again, so now I guess the SEC are manipulating the market with stupid announcements huh?

If all he cares about is innovation, maybe he shouldn't talk about stock price or investor expectations.
 
Does he get different treatment in front of the law because he's rich and famous?

If you're a C.E.O., yes. The SEC has strict regulations about what you can say and when you can say it because it can cause disruption to the market. It's the same reason companies have to issue halt (freezes the order book) orders for certain press releases.

Had their actually been a Saudi deal in the works, he'd likely be OK. But it seems there's evidence that there was no Saudi deal and he scrambled to throw something together to cover his ass.

It's stock manipulation. Want to know why?

Because in a few months the bonds mature. If Tesla's stock is not above something like $360/share at that time, they get hit with a debt bill of upwards of $1bil. If the price is above that, it converts to stock.

Expect the crazy to come out closer to the deadline.
 
I am amazed at the ignorance of a few posters in this thread. It's like this guy has cured cancer or something. It doesn't matter if he is Santa Claus or Jesus Christ he is an officer of a publicly held company and is held a higher standard than Joe Sixpack who is not. There is a reason there are laws for how a person who is entrusted with shareholder money must operate.

He can tweet whatever the hell he wants, but he can't tweet lies to try to manipulate his own company's stock price in his capacity. The SEC found in their almost two month investigation his board of directors knew absolutely nothing about the shit he was spewing all over Twitter. He said he was taking the company private and had secured funding but the board knew nothing about that. That's not even possible. He made it all up. And then he decided to settle on a $420 share price because he thought it would make his girlfriend laugh "due to his recent discovery of the marijuana culture and the significance of 420". I shit you not. There is a huge difference between intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ). He acts as if his EQ is that of a teenager.

How could a guy who supposedly is so smart not know what a colossal fuck up he was making? Hell the damn SEC even offered to settle with him and he turned it down. Geez WTF!? Now he will likely lose his ability to even be an officer at Tesla any longer. Gone. Done. He is going to be sued so hard by shorts and longs alike that Tesla will never recover. Tesla holds a huge amount of debt as it is that is tied to the stock price and he has tanked it. Investors are giving up. They will be sold off to the highest bidder and it will be entirely his fault. He will be extremely lucky to avoid jail time with the other DOJ investigation.

This is not what a "visionary" does. This is not what a "genius" does.

Actually reminds me of two of my uncles. Incredibly book smart. No street smarts whatsoever. Could've been multi-millionaires and retired by 45. Instead, they let their wives walk all over them, blow money on pseudo-science crap, and make poor business decisions due to some fake sense of righteousness. Now over 50 and living from paycheck to paycheck trying to maintain an upper middle class lifestyle. Not sure if they're even saving for retirement, or think that their housing investments can sustain them into retirement.
 
wtf does being a visionary have to do with stock markets. All he cares about is the products he produces and changing the world for the better. Not focusing on greed and wealth. If investors choose to jump on for the ride thats their choice but it was never a core goal of Tesla.

He has done many great things so far, more than you or most people will ever achieve in their lives.

Thanks to this news, Telsa shares have tanked again, so now I guess the SEC are manipulating the market with stupid announcements huh?

Haha what a rube. He most certainly does care about the market, otherwise why take a private company public like he did? He did it for the Benjamins. He wrapped that company in lots of debt that is tied to the stock price so he certainly needs to care about stock markets. He INVITED investors in by going public. That's the whole point of going public.

I'm beginning to think you do not understand the difference between private and public companies in regards to the law. You seem to be basing your arguments on your apparent bromance with this guy and talking about the great things he's done. That's not what this thread is about. You should probably go start a thread about Musk Love or something that has nothing to do with facts or reality. Maybe you can get a bunch of people to join you and you all can circle jerk about your messiah. I promise I'll stay out of that one.
 
Haha what a rube. He most certainly does care about the market, otherwise why take a private company public like he did? He did it for the Benjamins. He wrapped that company in lots of debt that is tied to the stock price so he certainly needs to care about stock markets. He INVITED investors in by going public. That's the whole point of going public.

I'm beginning to think you do not understand the difference between private and public companies in regards to the law. You seem to be basing your arguments on your apparent bromance with this guy and talking about the great things he's done. That's not what this thread is about. You should probably go start a thread about Musk Love or something that has nothing to do with facts or reality. Maybe you can get a bunch of people to join you and you all can circle jerk about your messiah. I promise I'll stay out of that one.

No he did it to keep the company affloat. He was out of money. He was already loaded before starting Tesla, he didn’t do it to get rich. Same as SpaceX.

Love how cynical people are now, you think just because you are a greedy prick who only cares about wealth that everyone is that way who starts a company.
 
No he did it to keep the company affloat. He was out of money. He was already loaded before starting Tesla, he didn’t do it to get rich. Same as SpaceX.

Love how cynical people are now, you think just because you are a greedy prick who only cares about wealth that everyone is that way who starts a company.

What a bogus argument. Are you telling me that Elon Musk's $20 billion in worth cannot sustain Tesla's $1-2 million in net income losses? Tesla had approved for Musk a compensation plan that could have given him $50 billion over 10 years (that's almost $5 billion a year). If money was not a concern to him and keeping Tesla afloat was, why did he accept such a compensation plan?

Edit: Read the numbers wrong, it was a >$2 billion loss in 2017. Does not invalidate the point about the compensation plan though.
 
No he did it to keep the company affloat. He was out of money. He was already loaded before starting Tesla, he didn’t do it to get rich. Same as SpaceX.

Love how cynical people are now, you think just because you are a greedy prick who only cares about wealth that everyone is that way who starts a company.

What I really care about is all the investors that have been mislead and all the average joes that are likely to lose their jobs over what's he's done when this thing goes tits up. They have no say in the matter. But I guess a few lives get screwed up no biggie because this guy is doing "great things" right? He has no responsibility to people that have invested money in him or for any of his employees cause he does lots of "good in this world". That's what you are saying in effect.

If that makes me cynical in your mind then so be it.

I don't mean any disrespect when I say this but it doesn't seem as if you really know much about this topic. There are many simple facts you seem to be not aware of in regards to the history of Musk and Tesla in particular, or you are quite possibly choosing to ignore them not sure which. Either way your points seem more about how you feel about the guy then about facts around his SEC case. I'd suggest you separate your ego from your arguments and focus on the facts. I think you could make much better arguments by doing that.

Nobody really cares how you feel about the guy, but we would love to debate with you about the facts surrounding the thread topic. Please tell us why he should not have been sue'd by the SEC, but please use logic and reason and no more Musk Love stuff.
 
What I really care about is all the investors that have been mislead and all the average joes that are likely to lose their jobs over what's he's done when this thing goes tits up. They have no say in the matter. But I guess a few lives get screwed up no biggie because this guy is doing "great things" right? He has no responsibility to people that have invested money in him or for any of his employees cause he does lots of "good in this world". That's what you are saying in effect.

If that makes me cynical in your mind then so be it.

I don't mean any disrespect when I say this but it doesn't seem as if you really know much about this topic. There are many simple facts you seem to be not aware of in regards to the history of Musk and Tesla in particular, or you are quite possibly choosing to ignore them not sure which. Either way your points seem more about how you feel about the guy then about facts around his SEC case. I'd suggest you separate your ego from your arguments and focus on the facts. I think you could make much better arguments by doing that.

Nobody really cares how you feel about the guy, but we would love to debate with you about the facts surrounding the thread topic. Please tell us why he should not have been sue'd by the SEC, but please use logic and reason and no more Musk Love stuff.

I have a better idea, how about you explain how the SEC is acting in the best interests of investors and the public by digging this matter up again and making it so public. Tesla’s shares have tanked again, about the same as last time. So how is the SEC any better by doing the exact same thing?

As for screwing peoples lives up, going public is what saved everyones jobs at Tesla... to the dismay of GM etc who want to see Tesla fail
 
I have a better idea, how about you explain how the SEC is acting in the best interests of investors and the public by digging this matter up again and making it so public. Tesla’s shares have tanked again, about the same as last time. So how is the SEC any better by doing the exact same thing?

As for screwing peoples lives up, going public is what saved everyones jobs at Tesla... to the dismay of GM etc who want to see Tesla fail

That is why the SEC exists. They are doing what the taxpayers pay them to do. We expect them to do this. They are not "digging this matter up again". They are reacting to what Musk did because that is why they exist. Tesla's shares have tanked because of what Musk did, not SEC's enforcement of the law. Do you blame the police for arresting a child molester, or are they just trying to ruin a person's life? That's the rule of law that we all live under. You are not dealing with reality my friend.

I am going to stop responding to you now as I'm thinking you are probably trolling, and if you're not I feel bad continuing this as I feel like I'm picking on a little kid or something.
 
That is why the SEC exists. They are doing what the taxpayers pay them to do. We expect them to do this. They are not "digging this matter up again". They are reacting to what Musk did because that is why they exist. Tesla's shares have tanked because of what Musk did, not SEC's enforcement of the law. Do you blame the police for arresting a child molester, or are they just trying to ruin a person's life? That's the rule of law that we all live under. You are not dealing with reality my friend.

I am going to stop responding to you now as I'm thinking you are probably trolling, and if you're not I feel bad continuing this as I feel like I'm picking on a little kid or something.

They could have easily handled it behind closed doors... instead they made it very public just like Elon, oh the irony. Now they have made the situation worse and probably on purpose so they can manipulate the market for their high up pals who pay them off.
 
They could have easily handled it behind closed doors... instead they made it very public just like Elon, oh the irony. Now they have made the situation worse and probably on purpose so they can manipulate the market for their high up pals who pay them off.

You think Musk would have been okay with it being handled behind closed doors? He's as bad as Trump is.

Additionally, an investigation has to be made public. Someone above posted that he rejected a plea deal that would have kept things under wraps for the most part. This is on Elon, not the SEC.
 
They could have easily handled it behind closed doors... instead they made it very public just like Elon, oh the irony. Now they have made the situation worse and probably on purpose so they can manipulate the market for their high up pals who pay them off.
sorry to break this to you, but your hero had that option - the SEC offered him a settlement - which he refused, resulting in the lawsuit.
 
sorry to break this to you, but your hero had that option - the SEC offered him a settlement - which he refused, resulting in the lawsuit.

Settlement.... yeah step down as CEO of Tesla which is basically signing the companies death warrant. He had no choice but to refuse it. The case is just BS, there is no insider trading, the information was made publicly to everyone at the same time and he didn't profit from it.

Who knows maybe he will be removed, Tesla goes under then lets see how the shareholders feel :ROFLMAO:
 
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Settlement.... yeah step down as CEO of Tesla which is basically signing the companies death warrant. He had no choice but to refuse it. The case is just BS, there is no insider trading, the information was made publicly to everyone at the same time and he didn't profit from it.

Who knows maybe he will be removed, Tesla goes under then lets see how the shareholders feel :ROFLMAO:
uh... you realize he's being charged with fraud not "insider trading" right? And they weren't asking for him to step down as CEO, but the chairman of the board - and temporarily at that.

Do a tiny bit of reading before you form your opinions... Educate yourself.

**edit**
And honestly at this point I think it's 60-40 (at best) that Tesla will be gone within two years. Musk has killed this company - best case this lawsuit will be a time and money pit for the next few years (assuming he eventually wins) and worst case it's a time and money pit, plus he's barred from ever serving as an executive or board member of a publicly traded company for the rest of his life (bye Tesla and SpaceX.) And that's assuming the DOJ doesn't file criminal charges - then the worst case is that PLUS some time in prison. This episode (especially not settling with the SEC and taking a "sabatical" from the board since he's clearly been pushed beyond his capabilities) has caused me to change my opinion of Musk - I USED to think he was a pretty smart shitbird who liked to over-state his abilities and importance. Now I'm pretty sure he's an egotistic asshat of middling intelligence who's going to get fucked by his own stupidity.
 
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uh... you realize he's being charged with fraud not "insider trading" right? And they weren't asking for him to step down as CEO, but the chairman of the board - and temporarily at that.

Do a tiny bit of reading before you form your opinions... Educate yourself.

**edit**
And honestly at this point I think it's 60-40 (at best) that Tesla will be gone within two years. Musk has killed this company - best case this lawsuit will be a time and money pit for the next few years (assuming he eventually wins) and worst case it's a time and money pit, plus he's barred from ever serving as an executive or board member of a publicly traded company for the rest of his life (bye Tesla and SpaceX.) And that's assuming the DOJ doesn't file criminal charges - then the worst case is that PLUS some time in prison. This episode (especially not settling with the SEC and taking a "sabatical" from the board since he's clearly been pushed beyond his capabilities) has caused me to change my opinion of Musk - I USED to think he was a pretty smart shitbird who liked to over-state his abilities and importance. Now I'm pretty sure he's an egotistic asshat of middling intelligence who's going to get fucked by his own stupidity.

Do I read? Do you read lol... SEC said he must leave his position for 2 years and cannot head up another public company in that time either. Tesla has no issue with surviving, their losses are a short term issue until production ramps up and R&D is paid off, at the very least they are far more viable than other US car makers. Problem is idiot shareholders and the like are impatient and only focused on profits.

If Elon steps down, Tesla will fold, a ton of jobs will be lost and shareholders will be even more butt hurt. This is no win situation.
 
Do I read? Do you read lol... SEC said he must leave his position for 2 years and cannot head up another public company in that time either. Tesla has no issue with surviving, their losses are a short term issue until production ramps up and R&D is paid off, at the very least they are far more viable than other US car makers. Problem is idiot shareholders and the like are impatient and only focused on profits.

If Elon steps down, Tesla will fold, a ton of jobs will be lost and shareholders will be even more butt hurt. This is no win situation.

I did not realize that being a CEO was a requirement for driving innovation. Also, not being able to head a public company does not exclude him from heading a private one.

If Tesla was so fragile that it would fold with the loss of one person, it doesn't deserve to live anyways. One person does not make a company. A company is a team of people working together. Additionally, although said person may not be able to serve as CEO, he can still serve as CTO, which is where he should be given your claims about him anyways.
 
Do I read? Do you read lol... SEC said he must leave his position for 2 years and cannot head up another public company in that time either. Tesla has no issue with surviving, their losses are a short term issue until production ramps up and R&D is paid off, at the very least they are far more viable than other US car makers. Problem is idiot shareholders and the like are impatient and only focused on profits.

If Elon steps down, Tesla will fold, a ton of jobs will be lost and shareholders will be even more butt hurt. This is no win situation.
I'm not sure you do...

Read this or if that's too much effort, here's the relevant bit:
New York Times said:
Under the terms of the agreement, what started on Aug. 7 — when Mr. Musk posted on Twitter that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private for $420 a share — would end with some modest penalties and Mr. Musk staying on as chief executive, according to two people briefed on the talks.[\QUOTE]
 
I dont think its over at all. He only has to step down as chairman, he can still remain CEO.
 
It'll be all over for Tesla because eventually the government money is going to run out. I just don't see how you can justify giving rebates on a luxury vehicle just because it is electric, especially when the average owner earns over $250k a year.
 
Lol y'all think Tesla is going to fail is being foolish.

The model 3 is the 4th pr 5th biggest selling car in the whole of America. Sorry Tesla is doing well. They will survive whether Elon goes or stays.
 
I think it's pretty obvious that as a celebrity, or a person in power absolutely NEEDS to stay 100% professional on their social media.

Rosanne, to many other celebs being brought down by the over sensitive population.


Even if something is a joke, please oh please think twice about saying something.

I love you Elon, but jesus....
 
Lol y'all think Tesla is going to fail is being foolish.

The model 3 is the 4th pr 5th biggest selling car in the whole of America. Sorry Tesla is doing well. They will survive whether Elon goes or stays.

Assuming Tesla can actually turn a profit. It doesn't matter if you have the fastest selling car in the world if you can't recoup your operating, and in Tesla's case, development and expansion costs. Tesla surviving is dependent on staying ahead of the curve and establishing themselves firmly in the EV market. That's only going to get more difficult to do the more delays they have, which they have been having a lot of. Being a public company, they will have to turn a profit sooner or later or investors will back out and they will lose their capital.
 
No, I'm not kidding you.


The no jokes aloud on Twitter law of 1998?


So basically, what you are saying is, automatic trading screwed people over because THEY decided to invest their money with a MACHINE that doesn't understand HUMOR. So Elon Musk should be held responsible for a MACHINE'S ACTIONS because the machine was unable to understand humor. Furthermore, if any human beings, had no sense of humor and couldn't recognize a 420 joke (a joke that has been around for 4 decades... and so widely circles that even my parents and grandparents have probably heard of it), Elon Musk should be responsible for people not getting a joke or acting on a joke as if it were real.

So, as an example, if he tweets "A giant lizard made 400 foot tall by nuclear tests in the Nevada desert has just attacked Tesla's Headquarters. They are calling it Godzil-----ahhhhhhhhhhhhh" on April Fools and people trade based upon that joke thinking that a 400 foot tall lizard has actually attacked Telsa's HQs, Elon Musk should be held responsible, right? I mean, joking about Godzillllaaa atttacking is about as old of a joke as 420.

If the machine misinterprets it and automatically makes trades based upon it, is it Elon Musks fault or the fault of the people who decided, of their own free will, to put their money behind an automated trading machine, most of whom have no understanding how the algorithm inside really works?

Let's say you are sore because your automatic trading machine made trades based upon a joke. Did Elon Musk force you to invest your money with that automatic trading machine? Did he tweet out in favor of AIs and AIs being the future of humanity? (Hint: He tweeted the exact opposite and warned of this.) Did he give you insurance or a guarantee on your trading machine? endorse it? have anything to do with it? No, no, no and no? Gee, maybe you should be complaining to the makers of the Automated Trading Machine that made money trades based upon a joke and lost people money. They'll probably just tell you that misinterpretation of tweets, social media stories and newsfeeds is part of the risk, no covered and to move along.

Right, you say all this and then leave out the part where Elon tried to explain that he came to that figure after a discussion with the Saudis regarding their investment in Tesla, and further reinforced it saying he hoped current shareholders would remain and the rest would be bought out at $420 per share. Even Tesla's board had a meeting to discuss this issue, because they weren't even sure what was going on regarding the status of the company they were trying to run. How you can actually suggest that normal investors should have been able to figure this out when even Tesla's board didn't know what was happening is beyond me.

With all due respect, you have no idea how securities law works, and being Elon Musk does not allow you to violate SEC rules simply because you're Elon Musk and a lot of people like your car.
 
Just because there is a law against something doesn't inherently make it wrong.
 
Because he has done more good for this world than the millions of blood sucking leeches on the stock market. I hope he does go private again, better yet, transfer his wealth into SpaceX and bankrupt Telsa and leave the investors in a hole.
He is the ultimate stock market leech. Solar City?
 
He is the ultimate stock market leech. Solar City?

Get over yourself...

Who was the first to mass produce true replacement electic vehicles? TESLA

Who was the first to start producing fully electric semi trucks. TESLA

Who was the first to deploy very high density battery backups for houses to live off the grid. TESLA

Who has developed a flight proven boosters that can launch a rocket in space then return and land back at Earth. SpaceX

Who currently has the largest rocket capable of lifting the highest payloads all the while recovering the boosters. SpaceX

Oh and lets not forgot BFR, the largest rocket made, 100% reusable and will take us to other planets. SpaceX

Hyperloop still in progress but making great strides.... The Boring Project.

Yes some projects will fall on their faces just like any other engineering process and you keep trying.

Ill be dead serious here nut people who dispose Elon just because of Twitter, need to eat a bag of concrete and harden the FK up.

He has done so much for my generation already and he actually gives me glimmer of hope like so many followers about the exciting future that lays ahead.

Ill say it once and Ill say it again, he doesnt care about wealth, SpaceX makes crap all and everything goes back into pay wages and keeping the BFR project alive as the final Goal of SpaceX to reach and colonise mars.

Tesla is similar Elon fronts alot of money to them to keep things moving, he even sleeps at the factory .

Not everyone is driven by money so don’t expect your cynical attitudes to work on other members. Personally all I want is a clean place to live. All I want to do is focus on making world a better place!
 
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