HaulingAss
Well-known member
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- Oct 3, 2020
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Musk wanted to make the SEC go away. His lawyers came up with the settlement plan that the SEC signed off on. It was nothing more than a slap on the wrist.Um, no. That's not what happened. In the "funding secured" debacle, here's what happened - Tesla's and Musk's lawyers ended up in a negotiation to keep them out of court, and to keep Musk out of actual jail for fraud, which resulted in:
This is not running off with their tail between their legs. This was quite serious - it was a legitimate charge of fraud, as Musk didn't have "funding secured" at $420 per share.
- Musk agreeing to have his tweets reviewed by Tesla's in-house counsel;
- Musk was removed from his chairman role at Tesla temporarily, Robin Deholm is still Chairwoman;
- Two new independent directors were appointed to the company's board, and;
- Tesla and Musk paid $20 million each in fines.
$40 million in fines is not nothing, but it was a pretty high price to pay for something that was wrong in the first place, and didn't need to happen at all. Call it an unforced error, because that's what it was.
I'm sure Elon doesn't respect the SEC, but he got lucky on this one - it could have been far worse for him. And he was wrong in the first place.
And, as anyone with eyes can see, it didn't muzzle Elon. He can still Tweet to his hearts content, God bless him for standing up for his right to freedom of speech. And he's still 100% in charge of Tesla and the additional diversity on the Board of Directors is a company strength, not a weakness. Anyone calling that a "punishment" I have to laugh at.
Since then, the SEC has had their tail between their legs and they have learned their lesson not to harass Elon Musk. He's smarter than all of them put together!
They are a bunch of cowards who need to learn how to do their job of actually protecting investors instead of carrying out the dirty work of Wall Street shorts. If the SEC was effective at their job, Bernie Madoff would have been in prison a decade earlier!