Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested the Securities and Exchange Commission is “targeting” him and his company over his criticism of the government.
According to Axios, Musk made the accusation in a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan. The outlet noted Nathan presided over a settlement with the SEC in 2018.
The SEC sued Musk for making misleading material statements, as Axios previously reported.
The settlement required Musk to step down as chairman for three years. Additionally, both Musk and Tesla were required to pay a $20 million penalty.
Musk’s lawyer explained in the letter to Nathan, “Simply stated, the SEC has failed to comply with its promise to pay Tesla’s shareholders the $40 million it collected as part of the settlement in these cases and that it purports to be holding for them.”
His lawyer requested that the court schedule a conference “to address why the SEC has failed to distribute these funds to shareholders but has chosen to spend its energy and resources investigating Mr. Musk’s and Tesla’s compliance with the consent decree by issuing subpoenas unilaterally, without Court approval.”
The letter goes on to argue that the SEC is trying to “muzzle and harass Mr. Musk and Tesla, while ignoring its Court-ordered duty to remit the $40 million that it continues to hold while Tesla’s shareholders continue to wait.”
It continues, “Worst of all, the SEC seems to be targeting Mr. Musk and Tesla for unrelenting investigation largely because Mr. Musk remains an outspoken critic of the government; the SEC’s outsized efforts seem calculated to chill his exercise of First Amendment rights rather than to enforce generally applicable laws in evenhanded fashion.”
Concluding the letter, Musk’s lawyer called on the court to “bring the SEC’s harassment campaign to an end, while ensuring that the SEC finally delivers, at long last, on its commitment to Tesla’s shareholders and this Court.”
