4 ms·

I thought his tweet was legal, assuming he wasn't lying about any of it, which indications are he wasn't. Maybe I don't understand...

detaro 8y ago
The SEC complaint claims that "Musk knew or was reckless in not knowing that each of these statements was false and/or misleading because he did not have an adequate basis in fact for his assertions."
- diminoten 8y ago
  That's good to know -- I think, based on some random article I read a month ago or so, he can beat that charge, because he had concrete knowledge about the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund being interested in helping take Tesla private. Again, I could be wrong, and I really wish I could remember where I found that article...
  - RussianCow 8y ago
    Musk's tweet said "Funding secured", which has a very different implication than a company simply "being interested".
    - MBCook 8y ago
      Right. If he was just complaining and said he was only thinking of taking it private and talking to people he could probably get away with it. Instead he said he heavily implied that he would take it private and already had all the money he needed from various investors. There’s a world of difference between those two statements.
      - village-idiot 8y ago
        He also went on to say a number of things that his board advised were probably impossible, such as bringing all investors along with him if Tesla went private.
dabockster 8y ago
In the US, you're not supposed to say anything publicly that can manipulate the stock price. For a person in Elon Musk's position, it is incredibly easy to drum up hype about a stock from a public media source (in this case, Twitter) then secretly sell off stock at the higher price causing it to dip further than it was at before. This is called pump and dumping and is very illegal in the United States (read up on The Great Depression and the stock crash of 1929 for more information).
- neurotech1 8y ago
  Any evidence he actually sold stock during the spike, that wasn't already scheduled?
  - RussianCow 8y ago
    Not that I'm aware of, but stock manipulation is illegal whether or not you actually sell any shares.
mhermher 8y ago
He was lying. Very clearly. You probably read some fanboys blog saying he wasn't and rationalizing it away.

detaro 8y ago

The SEC complaint claims that "Musk knew or was reckless in not knowing that each of these statements was false and/or misleading because he did not have an adequate basis in fact for his assertions."

diminoten 8y ago
That's good to know -- I think, based on some random article I read a month ago or so, he can beat that charge, because he had concrete knowledge about the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund being interested in helping take Tesla private. Again, I could be wrong, and I really wish I could remember where I found that article...
- RussianCow 8y ago
  Musk's tweet said "Funding secured", which has a very different implication than a company simply "being interested".
  - MBCook 8y ago
    Right. If he was just complaining and said he was only thinking of taking it private and talking to people he could probably get away with it. Instead he said he heavily implied that he would take it private and already had all the money he needed from various investors. There’s a world of difference between those two statements.
    - village-idiot 8y ago
      He also went on to say a number of things that his board advised were probably impossible, such as bringing all investors along with him if Tesla went private.

dabockster 8y ago

In the US, you're not supposed to say anything publicly that can manipulate the stock price. For a person in Elon Musk's position, it is incredibly easy to drum up hype about a stock from a public media source (in this case, Twitter) then secretly sell off stock at the higher price causing it to dip further than it was at before. This is called pump and dumping and is very illegal in the United States (read up on The Great Depression and the stock crash of 1929 for more information).

neurotech1 8y ago
Any evidence he actually sold stock during the spike, that wasn't already scheduled?
- RussianCow 8y ago
  Not that I'm aware of, but stock manipulation is illegal whether or not you actually sell any shares.

mhermher 8y ago

He was lying. Very clearly. You probably read some fanboys blog saying he wasn't and rationalizing it away.