--- title: "Elon Musk Gets Probed" description: "The SEC is yet again investigating Tesla CEO Elon Musk.This time, Musk and his brother are being investigated for possibly violating insider trading rules." date: "2022-02-25" modified: "2022-02-25" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-probed" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "sec" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Gets Probed ![The SEC is yet again investigating Tesla CEO Elon Musk.This time, Musk and his brother are being investigated for possibly violating insider trading rules.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Another One The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is yet again probing SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. This time, [according to *The Wall Street Journal*](), Musk and his brother are being investigated for possibly violating insider trading rules. Musk's brother Kimbal Musk sold $108 million worth of Tesla shares just a day before Musk [asked his considerable Twitter following]() if he should sell a bunch of his electric car company's shares. And that has the SEC suspicious. Musk, however, told the *WSJ* that his brother had no idea he was going to launch his Twitter poll. But Tesla's lawyers, he says, were clued in. ## Misguided Tweets Musk's [strained relationship]() with the regulator kicked off in 2018, when the billionaire CEO [made a silly weed joke](), suggesting he had "secured funding" to take Tesla private at $420 per share in an ill-fated tweet. The SEC [later sued Musk]() over the ordeal. Musk settled for $20 million and stepped down as chairman of Tesla's board. Three years later, and not much love has been lost between the two. Insider trading rules, as the *WSJ* points out, forbid employees and board members from trading on nonpublic information. Adam Pritchard, a law professor at the University of Michigan, told the newspaper that proving insider trading would be a "hard-fought question in court." It also wouldn't be the first time a SEC investigation doesn't actually end with an accusation or a decision to enforce rules. To Musk, SEC's continuing investigations are nothing short of harassment. "I didn’t start the fight, but I will finish it," he [tweeted]() on Wednesday, seemingly [paraphrasing the rapper Eminem](). **READ MORE:** [SEC Probes Trading by Elon Musk and Brother in Wake of Tesla CEO’s Sales]() \[*The Wall Street Journal*\] **More on Musk and the SEC:** *[Elon Musk Accuses the SEC of Trying to Keep Him From Posting Dumb Tweets]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()