Elon Musk affirms of "broken" promises denied by the SEC

The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has responded to claims by Tesla CEO Elon Musk that the agency has subjected him and his Tela company to "endless and unfounded investigations," the newspaper first reported. Wall Street Journal. In a letter to Judge Alison Nathan, the SEC refutes Musk's accusations that he is ignoring his commitment to dole out $40 million in fines to Tesla shareholders, which Musk and Tesla had paid as part of a settlement agreement. 2018.

"The SEC is still working on a plan to distribute $40 million to Tesla shareholders.

"Given the complexity of the distribution, it has taken time to develop the plan of allocation," SEC official Steve Buchholz writes in the letter. "That process is nearing completion and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Distributions staff expects to submit the proposed plan of distribution for the Court's approval by the end of March 2022."The SEC also notes that it has complied with the court's order requiring it to file distribution status reports.

Musk's complaints were included in a letter that his attorney, Alex Spiro, submitted to the court on his behalf. It's a 2018 deal, also overseen by Judge Nathan, in which the SEC charged Musk with securities fraud after he tweeted that he had "secure funds" to take Tesla private. Later Musk reached a settlement with the SEC, requiring him and Tesla to pay separate fines of $20 million. He also ordered Musk to step down as chairman of Tesla for three years and called for the company to monitor any statements Musk makes about Tesla on social media.

In 2019, the SEC accused Musk of being in"blatant violation" of the settlementafter he tweeted the automaker would produce around 500,000 cars that year — a number higher than what Tesla actually forecasted. The SECasked a federal judge to hold Musk in contempt, a moveMusk claimed was an "unconstitutional power grab."Judge Nathan then ordered the two to figure things out on their own.

Earlier this month, we learned that the SEC subpoenaed Tesla last November in another episode related to Musk's tweet. In his letter which he sent to the court, Musk accuses SEC of wasting time subpoenaing Tesla instead of distributing the $40 million to shareholders. The SEC responded by saying that the subpoena is not related to the current litigation and that if Tesla and Musk "have legitimate objections to the SEC's proceedings," they should use the appropriate legal avenues to challenge it.

Disclaimer: Inputs are picked from TheVerge Tags: Elon Musk, Tesla, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission