Elon Musk Loves Poking the Bear. Will the SEC Claw Him?
Three years after the agency threatened to ban him from being an officer of a public company, Tesla’s CEO keeps taunting the regulator.
Musk jokingly pretends to search for an answer to a reporter’s question during a news conference in 2020.
Photographer: John Raoux/AP
It’s not enough that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s attempt to hold Elon Musk accountable for fraud the agency alleged he committed three years ago did little to change how he runs Tesla Inc. The company’s chief executive officer just can’t resist rubbing it in the regulator’s face.
Exhibit 69 (or was it 420?): On Nov. 30, Tesla put a new product called Cyberwhistle on its website just in time for stocking-stuffer shoppers. The $50 stainless-steel instrument, shaped like the pickup Musk showed in 2019 (and has yet to produce), sold out almost immediately after the CEO tweeted a link to his more than 60 million followers. “Blow the whistle on Tesla!” he wrote.