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> He clearly wanted to pump up the stock price and screw short sellers (he threw lots of indicators in the public space), and his statement was clearly and know
by abalone 8y ago
> He clearly wanted to pump up the stock price and screw short sellers (he threw lots of indicators in the public space), and his statement was clearly and knowingly false. There was no secured funding.
No this is not textbook at all. See previous citation from the SEC re: intentionality as a key element in criminal fraud.
"Clearly and knowingly false" is just a serious-sounding way to say a misstatement. Did Musk not actually believe in his heart that the deal was basically done? It wasn't, of course, but it takes more than being incorrect to constitute fraud. It takes intent to do something you know is wrong. Wishful thinking may be fraud but it is not necessarily textbook fraud.
- kitebox 8y agonot to mention that what his tweet said was "Secured funding." (many news organizations misquote it as "Funding secured.") In English, the sentence "Secured funding" is ambiguous in meaning: as a shorthand sentence, it could mean "we would only use secured funding for a transaction like this". "Secured debt" is a thing, and therefore secured funding is a thing. Unless he clarified it someplace else in a way that was not in his favor, there is plenty of wiggle room in that sentence.
- losvedir 8y agoAm I missing something? The tweet[0] says no such thing. [0] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776?ref_...
- jkqwzsoo 8y ago> not to mention that what his tweet said was "Secured funding." (many news organizations misquote it as "Funding secured.") This is not true. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776
- empath75 8y agoIt might be gross incompetence rather than fraud you’re saying.
- SilasX 8y ago>Did Musk not actually believe in his heart So you're saying that, the way securities law works, personal optimism is all it takes to justify any representation of any upcoming financing terms? There's no requirement beyond what's in his heart?
- abalone 8y agoI'm saying the idea of just making a misstatement doesn’t necessarily rise to the level of fraud. You have to do something with intentionality. Oops, I mean I didn't say that. The head of the San Francisco SEC office did.
- SilasX 8y agoYes, but proving intent is the easy part of this, what with Musk's propensity to trash-talk short-sellers.
- abalone 8y agoDisliking short sellers is not the same as intent to defraud the public. Every CEO dislikes short sellers. Intent to commit fraud is absolutely the hardest part of this to prove.
- SilasX 8y agoCool, now we can retread the part where I expressed skepticism that personal optimism is carte blanche to represent any "secured" investment terms to the public.