Musk's lawyer asks the SEC to quit pestering the shy and retiring billionaire

Ever in the sights of the SEC, Elon Musk is engaged in another public spat with America's financial watchdog, this time in the form of a letter from the billionaire's lawyer published on X (better known as Twitter). 

Musk shared the letter from his brief, Alex Spiro, to SEC boss Gary Gensler on the tycoon's personal social media platform along with a tweet asking how the SEC chair could "do this to me?"

The missive claims that Musk was asked on Wednesday to commit to a settlement to resolve the 2022 SEC investigation into whether Musk adequately disclosed his stake in Twitter prior to purchasing the website and app, and accuses the SEC of "engag[ing] in an improperly motivated campaign against Mr Musk and the individuals and companies associated with him." 

"Yesterday the commission staff issued a settlement demand that required Mr Musk agree within 48 hours to either accept a monetary payment or face charges on numerous counts," Spiro wrote, presumably meaning Musk could have accepted making a payment rather than receiving one.

"They indicated that this demand was the result of a directive from their superiors and that the charges would be brought imminently unless Mr Musk acquiesced." 

Spiro accused the SEC of "more than six years of harassment" of the world's richest man, and demanded answers from Gensler as to "who directed these actions - whether it was you or the White House." 

The lawyer also alleged that he himself was subpoenaed by the SEC for unspecified reasons, which he "categorically refused" to cooperate with, and indicated that the regulator also reopened an investigation into Musk's brain implant company Neuralink. 

"These tactics and misguided scheme will not intimidate us," Spiro concluded. "We reserve all rights." 

Two minutes after posting the letter, Musk posted a picture generated by his Grok AI bot of a snail wearing a suit that he said was the result of his asking it to "draw a picture of Gary Gensler."

"Very flattering, I think," the oligarch added.

Details scarce

There's nothing on the SEC's website indicating it had threatened Musk with charges, or proposed a settlement to address potential securities law violations related to the billionaire's disclosure of his stake in Twitter prior to the purchase, reopened an investigation into Neuralink, or confirmed any of Spiro's other claims.

We've made multiple attempts to reach out to the SEC to confirm the allegations in the letter, and the agency declined to comment, telling The Register "it is the policy of the SEC to conduct investigations on a confidential basis to preserve the integrity of its investigative process," and that it "does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation."

CNBC, on the other hand, claims to have had more success and cites an unnamed source with knowledge of the investigation who contradicted some of Spiro's claims. 

According to the telly news source, Musk was given more than 48 hours to respond, and wouldn't immediately face charges if he didn't acquiesce within whatever period was actually specified. We're told the billionaire may receive a Wells Notice indicating the conclusion of the investigation and possible enforcement actions to come, which would have to be decided on by the commission itself. 

It remains unknown what settlement offer the SEC proposed, or what charges Musk may end up facing if he doesn't comply.

Musk's public scuffles with the SEC began in 2018 - six years ago, and possibly the period of harassment that Spiro is referring to - after the Tesla mogul tweeted that he was going to take the EV maker private and had secured the necessary funding to do so. 

Despite being found not liable for securities fraud, Musk agreed in 2019 to a consent decree requiring all his tweets about Tesla to be reviewed by a securities lawyer before being published. Musk has tried repeatedly to escape the consent decree, but it is still in place following the US Supreme Court's decision not to review the matter earlier this year.

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The other high-profile spat between Musk and the SEC began in 2022 when the SEC accused him of failing to timely disclose his acquisition of nearly 10 percent of Twitter stock. Musk resisted a subpoena for testimony in the case, calling the SEC's demand for additional material harassment. However, a judge ordered him to appear in February. 

The SEC later asked a court to sanction Musk for repeated failures to meet the watchdog's staff, though a judge declined the request, citing his eventual appearance and voluntary reimbursement of SEC officials' travel costs for a missed appointment. 

In the end, none of this might matter much at all. Musk has spent a lot of money to foster a close relationship with President-Elect Donald Trump, who has appointed him head of an unofficial "Department of Government Efficiency," which plans to propose cuts to government agencies.

While the SEC is not an executive agency, and thus outside the authority of the President to gut, Gensler has already announced his resignation, with Trump proposing former SEC official Paul Atkins to head the agency. Atkins is expected to review many of Gensler's rules and enforcement actions once he's in place, meaning Musk may just end up off the hook in January. ®