By Mrinmay Dey
(Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) this week has reopened an investigation into Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink, based on a letter shared by Musk on Thursday on social media platform X.
The Dec. 12 letter from Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro to outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler additionally famous that the fee had issued a settlement demand and that Musk had been given 48 hours to simply accept making a financial fee or face prices on a number of counts.
The quantity demanded was not within the letter.
Musk has lengthy sparred with the SEC and final yr 4 lawmakers requested the fee to research whether or not Elon Musk dedicated securities fraud by allegedly deceptive buyers in regards to the security of a mind implant developed by Neuralink.
How a lot traction the SEC would acquire in any motion in opposition to Musk is unclear.
The billionaire entrepreneur who additionally heads Tesla (NASDAQ:) and SpaceX is about to achieve extraordinary affect after spending greater than 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars} to assist Donald Trump win November’s presidential election. His corporations are anticipated to be properly insulated from regulation and enforcement measures.
Trump has additionally appointed Musk to a activity power that plans a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. authorities.
Spiro wrote within the letter that he and Musk wouldn’t be intimidated by the SEC and that they reserved their authorized rights.
The SEC and Neuralink didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests for remark outdoors common enterprise hours.
Musk’s tussles with the SEC embody the regulator’s probe into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, now X.
A federal choose in November rejected the SEC’s request to sanction Elon Musk after he failed to look for court-ordered testimony in relation to the matter.
The fee additionally sued Musk in 2018 over his Twitter posts about taking Tesla personal. He settled that lawsuit by paying a $20 million superb, agreeing to let Tesla legal professionals overview some posts prematurely and stepping down as Tesla’s chairman.
