The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. The reason was his Twitter posts about Dogecoin (DOGE) cryptocurrency. Writes about this First Squawk citing sources.
SEC IS SAID TO INVESTIGATE TESLA CHIEF EXECUTIVE MUSK FOR HIS TWEETS ON DOGECOIN: SOURCES FAMILIAR WITH THE MATTER #Dogecoins #Tesla
– First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) February 25, 2021
In the past, Musk has repeatedly posted messages regarding cryptocurrency on Twitter, and they have become especially regular recently. Despite the lack of seriousness, Musk’s attention was often the impetus for an instant rise in the DOGE rate. Against the background of today’s news, the price of the cryptocurrency fell from $ 0.054 to $ 0.0515.
Musk has previously had problems with the SEC due to statements on Twitter. So, the SEC banned him from publicly discussing news related to Tesla’s business on a social network without prior approval. This happened after Musk wrote on August 7, 2018 that he was going to make the company private and was ready to buy back the shares at $ 420 per unit, that is, above the market price.
“Funding secured,” he wrote at the time, and caused a sharp 11% rise in the company’s securities. Subsequently, he abandoned these intentions, and the SEC found out that his words had no factual basis. As a result, Musk was forced to pay a $ 20 million fine and resign as chairman of Tesla’s board of directors.
In 2019, the SEC had to contact Musk again when one of his tweets caused Tesla shares to plunge 5%. Musk himself then stated that he posted publicly available information and did not consider it significant for the market. The SEC, however, found that he had not cleared the tweet with the company’s lawyers prior to publication, as required by the terms of the agreement with the regulator, and thereby violated it.
“I don’t respect the SEC, but I stick to the agreement because I respect the justice system. It’s unrealistic to look after me, ”Musk said earlier about this.
He also deciphered the SEC as “Shortseller Enrichment Commission”, that is, “Commission for the enrichment of short holders.”
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