Tesla Received Second Subpoena From US SEC Over Elon Musk’s 2018 Go-Private Tweets

Tesla has received a second subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission over its Chief Executive Elon Musk’s tweets in 2018 about taking the company private, the electric automaker disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday. The company said it received the subpoena on June 13 and will cooperate with the government authorities. The regulator did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. In November last year, the regulator had subpoenaed Tesla related to a settlement that required Musk’s tweets on material information to be vetted.

Musk had in 2018 settled a lawsuit by the regulator over his go-private tweets by agreeing to let the company’s lawyers pre-approve tweets with material information about the company.

In June, Musk appealed a judge’s refusal to end this 2018 agreement with the SEC.

Separately, Tesla said it has converted about 75 percent of its bitcoin holdings into fiat currency and has recorded an impairment charge of $170 million (roughly Rs. 1,200 crores) related to the asset.

As of June 30, the fair market value of its digital assets was worth $222 million (roughly Rs. 1,700 crore), it said in the filing.

Last week, Tesla asked a US court to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the electric car maker violated federal law by laying off hundreds of workers without advance notice.

Tesla in a filing in federal court in Austin, Texas, where the company is based, said the workers who were terminated signed valid agreements to bring employment-related legal disputes in arbitration and to refrain from participating in class-action lawsuits.

Even if the case remained in court, it should be dismissed because the company was merely “right-sizing” by firing poorly performing workers and not engaging in layoffs that require advance notice, Tesla said.