SEC steps up scrutiny over Musk comments on $44 bln Twitter dealJuly 14, 2022
(SEC instead of investigating if TWITTER lied to them in numerous years of filing they are going after Musk)
July 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator quizzed Elon Musk last month over a tweet in which the world's richest person raised doubts over whether he would move ahead with his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) due to concerns over the number of fake users on the platform. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked Musk in a letter whether he should have amended his public filing to reflect his intention to suspend or abandon the deal, according to the June 2 letter made public on Thursday.
The agency was referring to his May 17 tweet in which he said the "deal cannot move forward" until Twitter provided more data about how the company handled fake accounts.
The letter showsthe SEC has been tracking Musk's statements on the blockbuster deal, increasing pressure on the Tesla Inc boss who has been locked in a feud with the SEC over his tweets about Tesla since 2018. The agency already has
The SEC said in the letter it had inquired about the May 17 tweet with Musk's legal counsel the following day, but had not received a response more than two weeks later.
The SEC added if Musk did not respond, it may decide to release publicly all correspondence, including the letter.
Musk's lawyers said in a June 7 letter that the tweet did not require an amendment because Musk's plans for the deal had not changed at that time. Musk said on Friday he was terminating the deal because the social media company had breached multiple provisions of the merger agreement, although on Tuesday Twitter sued Musk alleging, he had broken the terms of the deal and made misleading statements about its operations. read more
Securities lawyers said they expected the SEC would scrutinize Musk's public statements on the deal to assess whether he misled the market as to his intentions, Reuters reported on Thursday. read more
In April, the SEC asked Musk whether the disclosure of his Twitter stake was late and why it indicated that he intended to be a passive shareholder. Musk later refiled the disclosure to indicate he was an active investor.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/us-sec-sends-letter-musk-over-tweets-44-bln-twitter-deal-2022-07-14/
In a faceoff with Elon Musk, the SEC blinkedMay 24, 2022 11:15 AM Judge's remarks in 2019 knocked SEC's confidence court would back them
• Core issue - what is "material" information - was left to Musk and Tesla to decide
• As some tweets went unvetted, SEC opted to urge Musk to comply, rather than go to court
• SEC was also uneasy about risk of starting litigation given Musk's resources
WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators have pulled their punches in dealings with Elon Musk largely because an April 2019 court hearing on a statement he made about Tesla on Twitter didn't go their way, according to four sources with knowledge of the matter.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked the court to hold the billionaire in contempt, saying a tweet by the Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O) CEO - which forecast production at the carmaker - violated a court agreement Musk signed the previous year to have some of his communications vetted by a lawyer.
By trying to rein in his comments, the SEC was veering into relatively uncharted territory. SEC rules require that public companies and their executives disclose accurate information that may be material to investors via channels that investors know to monitor. It doesn't usually specify how companies should do that.
But the 2019 remarks byjudge Alison Nathan– who found the terms of the agreement between Musk and the SEC to be "soft" and urged them to reach an understanding – knocked confidence among officials overseeing the case that the courts would support them if they attempted to prosecute his activity on Twitter (TWTR.N), the four sources said.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/faceoff-with-elon-musk-sec-blinked-2022-05-24/