'Shortseller Enrichment Commission’: Musk mocks SEC over fraud probe

While things aren’t on the up-and-up for eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk, ousted as Tesla chairman and sued by a US agency for fraud over scandalous tweets, he's now put Twitter in overdrive with an act certain to invite trouble.

Musk appears to have run afoul of the $20 million settlement he recently reached with the Securities & Exchange Commission, with a tweet that called the federal regulator the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission” and mocking the “name change.”

One of the terms of the settlement was that Musk would not take any action or make any public statement denying any SEC allegations or “creating the impression that the complaint is without factual basis.”

The SEC charged Musk with defrauding investors after the Tesla chairman and CEO tweeted in August about having “funding secured” to take the company private at a certain target stock price.

Under the terms of the settlement, Musk agreed to pay a $20 million fine and step down as chairman of the Tesla board of directors – a position from which he will be barred for three years – as well as have his tweets about Tesla supervised by a company official. He was allowed to remain the carmarker’s CEO, however.

When someone helpfully suggested a social media team could help him avoid typos and enraging the “Shortseller Enrichment Committee” [sic], Musk apologized for the typos - but not for slamming the SEC.

“Why would they be upset about their mission? It’s what they do,” he tweeted.

The SEC has so far declined to comment on either of Musk’s tweets.

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