Elon Musk, the founder of Neuralink, a brain chip startup company, is facing renewed investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as revealed in a letter shared on the social media platform X on Thursday, December 12th. The letter sent by Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, to the outgoing SEC chairman Gary Gensler mentioned that the SEC has issued a 48-hour deadline for Musk to either accept a monetary settlement or face charges related to the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter (the predecessor of X).
The letter did not disclose the settlement amount. Musk has had a longstanding feud with the SEC. Last year, four members of Congress requested the SEC to investigate whether Musk was involved in securities fraud. Allegations suggest that Musk misled investors by claiming that Neuralink’s brain implants were safe.
The actual impact of the SEC’s actions against Musk remains unclear at this time. The billionaire entrepreneur, who is also the head of Tesla and SpaceX, has become unusually influential after spending over $250 million to help Donald Trump win the presidential election in November. Speculations suggest that his companies may operate outside regulatory and law enforcement measures.
Trump appointed Musk to lead a task force called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to oversee comprehensive reform of the federal government. In the letter, Spiro stated that he and Musk will not be intimidated by the threats from the SEC, emphasizing their legal rights.
In November, a federal judge rejected the SEC’s request to penalize Musk after he failed to appear in court as ordered to testify about the Twitter acquisition case, to determine whether it violated securities laws in 2022.
In 2018, the SEC sued Musk over his tweets about potentially taking Tesla private. Musk settled the lawsuit by paying a $20 million fine, agreeing to pre-approve some tweets with Tesla’s counsel, and stepping down as chairman.
(Reference: Reuters)