Last Updated:
The US Securities and Exchange Commission reopened an investigation into Elon Musk’s Neuralink, preparing to press more charges against him.
Elon Musk’s lawyer accused SEC of harassment for years.
In a fresh development in Elon Musk’s ongoing feud with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the commission has reopened an investigation into Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink. In a fierce response, the billionaire’s team addressed outgoing chair Gary Gensler, mentioning that the commission had issued a settlement demand 48-hour ultimatum to accept monetary payment or face charges on multiple counts.
In the letter, Elon Musk‘s lawyer, Alex Spiro, even flagged more than “six years of harassment” by the commission and its staff, as he questioned how the agency has been taking such actions and on whose behalf. The Tesla CEO shared the letter on his X handle, making a veiled dig at the SEC chairman. “Oh Gary, how could you do this to me?” he wrote.
While the letter remains short on specifics like the charges levied on Musk and how his companies were to be affected, it details the complaints from the billionaire’s side. Stating that the commission staff had issued a statement requiring Elon Musk to agree to accept a monetary payment or face charges, the letter further indicated that this demand was the result of a directive from their superiors and that the charges would be brought unless Musk acquiesced. “This demand follows a multi-year investigation and more than six years of harassment by the commission and its staff,” it adds.
Spiro also claimed the commission staff even summoned him for testimony, threatening to send a process server if he failed to cooperate, thus resulting in the reopening of the investigation into Neuralink.
“This series of events makes clear that the commission is not motivated to seek the truth but instead is engaged an in improperly motivated campaign against Mr Musk and the individuals and companies associated with him,” the letter concluded, finally demanding to know whether the actions are directed by the chairman himself or the White House.
Elon Musk’s Disputes With SEC
It is worth mentioning that Musk’s relationship with the SEC has been contentious for several years now. Earlier in 2018, the billionaire CEO was sued by the commission over a tweet about taking Tesla private. The most recent investigation centres around Musk’s $44 billion purchase of X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Neuralink probe has also sparked reactions from the likes of Vivek Ramaswamy and Mike Lee. While Lee claimed that the SEC “cannot be trusted,” Musk went on to describe it as a “weaponised institution.”
