Tesla receives subpoena from Securities and Exchange Commission over 2018 settlement
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Tesla Inc said on Monday it received a subpoena from the U.S. securities regulator in November related to the SEC settlement that required top boss Elon Musk's tweets on material information to be vetted.
The disclosure in an annual filing https://bit.ly/34kIdih with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission comes after Musk triggered a stock sell-off after asking his Twitter followers in November https://bit.ly/3opTftt if he should sell 10% of his stake in the company.
As of last close, the electric-car maker's shares fell by nearly a quarter since the tweet.
The SEC's latest action adds to the company's pressure from federal auto safety regulators regarding vehicle recalls https://reut.rs/3J6zUFB and investigations related to its driver assisting software.
Tesla in December https://reut.rs/3LecIHk was hit by a lawsuit over Musk's social media posts including his Twitter poll on stock sales that pulled down its stock prices. This was not the first lawsuit accusing https://reut.rs/3slo0Rh Musk of violating his 2018 settlement.
In 2018, Musk settled a lawsuit https://bit.ly/3uxdTf8 by the SEC over his tweet on taking the company private, agreeing to have the company's lawyers pre-approve tweets with material information about the company.
As part of the same settlement, Musk also stepped down as chairman of the board, Tesla appointed two new independent directors and both parties paid $20 million penalty each.
Tesla and the White House have been at odds over the past few months, with the Biden administration focusing on legacy automakers including Ford Motor Co and General Motors in the electric vehicle race.
Last month, GM and Ford's CEOs attended a meeting of tech and auto companies hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden, however Musk was not part of the list of attendees.
Musk has been using his Twitter account to attack the Biden administration for ignoring Tesla, and holding up Detroit automakers as leaders in the shift to electric vehicles. Musk called Biden a "damp sock puppet https://bit.ly/3uEje42" in a tweet last month.
Musk is also feuding https://reut.rs/3sr49QZ with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, a key ally of Biden. The National Labor Relations board in March ordered Musk delete a tweet that said Tesla workers could lose stock options if they voted to join the UAW. Tesla is appealing that order.
BITCOIN HOLDINGS WORTH $2 BLN
Tesla said on Monday the fair market value of the electric-vehicle maker's bitcoin holdings as of Dec. 31 was $1.99 billion.
The company, which had invested $1.50 billion in bitcoin last year, said it registered about $101 million in impairment losses last year due to the value of bitcoin.
A drop in the value of bitcoin resulted in the company recording losses, as the value of its holdings fell.
Tesla had also briefly accepted the cryptocurrency as payment for sales of certain products. However, Musk stopped accepting the digital currency, citing environmental concerns around the mining of bitcoin.
The company said it gained $128 million after selling a portion of its holdings in March. Tesla has not disclosed any change to its bitcoin holdings since.
