In his recent interview for 60 minutes, Musk told host Lesly Stahl that he has no respect for the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“I do not respect the SEC,” Musk said. “I do not respect them.”
The interview was apparently quite emotional for Musk as it appears that he was getting teary while talking about his recent interaction with SEC which resulted in him losing Chairmanship of his own company.
After Musk tweeted he was considering taking $TSLA private, the SEC charged him with securities fraud. In the settlement, he agreed to have his tweets about the company reviewed in advance. https://t.co/S5nUdnG64y pic.twitter.com/RMkYjPO4Yk
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) December 10, 2018
Back in August, Elon Musk tweeted about taking Tesla private at $420 per share. It later turned out to be a joke but with consequences. A month later, SEC filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk for misleading his shareholders. A settlement was reached which stated that Musk would pay a fine of $20 million and would step down as Chairman for at least 3 years. He also agreed to let SEC review all his public statements about Tesla.
In his interview for the 60 minutes, Musk said: “The only tweets that would have to be say reviewed would be if a tweet had a probability of causing a movement in the stock.”
Musk is known for his casual use of twitter account. In the interview, Musk talked about the first amendment and how it guaranteed him freedom of speech. “Yeah, I mean otherwise it’s, “Hello, First Amendment.” Like Freedom of Speech is fundamental” said Musk.
Despite what one might think from Musk’s comments, a statement was made Tesla spokesman ensuring that the deal was being complied with. Elon Musk had initially decided to go against SEC but then decided to rest his case and take the settlement.
Musk also talked about his new role after resigning as Chairman of Tesla. “It’s not realistic in the sense that I am the largest shareholder in the company,” he said. “I can just call for a shareholder vote and get anything done that I want.” He later went on to say, “I actually just prefer to have no titles at all.”
Musk and SEC don’t have a good history. Back in October, Musk called SEC “Shortseller Enrichment Commission”. SEC hasn’t responded as of yet, but it is not far fetched to assume that they aren’t a huge fan of Musk.
