The terms have yet to take effect. The settlement is subject to court approval, which is underway. And Teddy Schleifer, a reporter at
Recode,
reports that the provision regarding the monitoring of Musk’s communications only goes into effect 90 days after the date the settlement was reached. Musk has about 80 more days to tweet what he wants about Tesla, and he appears to be taking advantage of the lag.
On Thursday, Musk, in an apparent attempt to mock the SEC, put his own twist on the agency’s initialism that takes aim at short sellers, a class of investors that have long been a prickly thorn in the entrepreneur’s side:
"Just want to that the Shortseller Enrichment Commission is doing incredible work. And the name change is so on point!"
The tweet may come as a surprise to those who think that making fun of federal regulators a week after they sued you may not be the wisest tactic. It probably does not come as a surprise to those who have been following Musk’s snark-laced tweets about his critics, whether they’re
the investors who bet against Tesla or
the reporters who cover it. It suggests that instead of hunkering down, he’s probably going to tweet right through it.
...
The new beef with the SEC, however, seems like an escalation of Musk’s usual complaints in the financial market realm, and could have implications for Tesla going forward. Hours before Musk published his tweet mocking the SEC, a federal judge in New York, where the settlement was filed,
ordered both the CEO and the agency to justify the agreement. U.S.
District Judge Alison Nathan said the court must make a “minimal determination of whether the agreement is appropriate” before she approved it, and has instructed the two parties to file “a joint letter not to exceed ten pages double-spaced explaining why the court should approve the proposed consent judgment.” It sounds like the school group project from hell, and Musk’s rogue tweet may have just ensured the process will be even more complicated.
