Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., again urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Tesla, CEO Elon Musk and the company’s board of directors, saying “Mr. Tesla may Misappropriating Tesla resources and causing conflicts of interest.” .Musk’s dual role in Tesla and X – renamed by Twitter. “
Warren, who serves on both the Senate Banking Committee and the Armed Services Committee, made a similar request to the SEC last July and sent a letter to Tesla Chairman Robyn Denholm expressing had similar concerns.
in a six page letter On March 21, Warren raised new concerns with federal agencies, writing that recent evidence showed that “Tesla’s board of directors lacks independence from Mr. Musk and that Musk uses his control of the board for personal gain.” interests, rather than in the best interests of Tesla shareholders.”
Warren’s letter referred to a January ruling from the Delaware Court of Chancery in which Judge Kathalen McCormick ruled that Elon Musk controls Tesla and Tesla The board “broke its fiduciary duty when it awarded Musk an ‘unfathomable’ $55.8 billion equity compensation plan.”
Warren pointed out that Tesla’s stock price has fallen about 30% so far this year.
“Mr. Musk’s recent public statements and actions have raised new concerns about conflicts of interest and the redirection of Tesla resources toward Mr. Musk’s private companies,” she wrote, referring to Musk’s claim to own Tesla 25 % of the voting rights, he wanted, and he threatened to develop AI products elsewhere if he didn’t get control.
Tesla Vice President of Investor Relations Martin Viecha and Rohan Patel, Vice President of Public Policy and Business Development did not respond to requests for comment. Tesla does not have a traditional PR team in North America.
Musk is the CEO of Tesla and defense contractor SpaceX, the chief technology officer and owner of X, and the founder of xAI, Neuralink and The Boring Co. letter.
“Senator Karen’s primary economic and tax advisor is SBF’s father. I suspect some of that comes from him,” Musk said. Musk referred to Warren as “Senator Karen” in a previous post.
Musk was referring to Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), who was arrested in 2023 for seven reasons related to the collapse of his crypto company FTX and its sister hedge fund Alameda Research in 2022. were convicted of a criminal offence.
SBF’s father, Stanford University legal scholar Joseph Bankman, signed a letter supporting her 2016 legislation aimed at simplifying the U.S. tax code and reportedly advised her on the legislation.
A spokesman for Warren’s office confirmed Bankman was not involved.
An SEC spokesman told CNBC via email on Thursday that agency Chairman Gary Gensler “will respond directly to members of Congress” rather than through a public or press statement.
Musk and the SEC have clashed several times over the years. Federal financial regulators charged Musk with civil securities crimes after Musk said on Twitter in 2018 that he was exploring a deal to take Tesla private at $420 a share and had “funding secured.” Fraud. Musk’s tweet halted trading in Tesla stock and caused the company’s stock price to fluctuate for weeks.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently investigating whether Musk or anyone else committed securities fraud in 2022, when he began buying shares of Twitter ahead of a leveraged buyout of the company. Musk failed to disclose his initial investment in Twitter as required before taking Twitter private and renaming it X Corp.
Another investigation into Tesla and Musk would heighten tensions between the agency and one of the world’s richest men on paper.
Tesla shares closed one point lower at $172.82 on Thursday, but edged higher after the bell.
read forest. Warren’s full letter Filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
About The Author
