Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Services and Armed Services Committees, expressed her concerns about Musk's dual role in several companies (Reuters)

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts once again urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Tesla, its CEO Elon Musk, and the company's board of directors over "possible misappropriation of Tesla resources and conflicts of interest arising from Musk," and also over "Musk's dual role in Tesla's two companies." And X (formerly Twitter), according to a report by CNBC.

Warren, a member of the Senate Banking and Armed Services Committees, sent a similar request to the Securities and Exchange Commission last July, and a letter to Tesla Chairman Robin Denholm, expressing similar concerns in the past.

In a six-page letter dated March 21, Warren informed the federal agency of new concerns, writing that recent evidence indicates that “Tesla’s board of directors lacks independence from Mr. Musk, who uses his control of the board for his own personal interests, not from In order to achieve the interests of the company and the best interest of Tesla shareholders.”

Warren's letter references a Delaware Chancery Court ruling last January, in which Judge Kathleen McCormick found that Elon Musk controlled Tesla, and that its board members "breached their fiduciary duties when they awarded Musk an unfathomable $55.8 billion stock compensation plan." ".

Warren noted that Tesla's stock price has fallen by about 30% since the beginning of the year so far.

“Musk’s recent statements and actions have raised new concerns about conflicts of interest and the redirection of Tesla’s resources to Mr. Musk’s own companies,” Warren wrote in her letter, referring to Musk’s claim of 25% of voting power over Tesla.

Martin Vicha, Tesla's vice president of investor relations, and Rohan Patel, vice president of public policy and business development, did not respond to requests for comment. Tesla does not maintain a traditional public relations team in North America.

Musk - who is also the CEO of SpaceX, the chief technology officer and owner of the X platform, and the founder of xAI, Neuralink, and The Boring Co. - published a comment about Warren. On his social media platform, in response to the senator’s statements.

"Senator Karen's chief economic and tax advisor is SBF's father. I suspect this conversation is coming from him," Musk said. Musk had called Warren "Senator Karen" in his previous posts, according to the report.

SBF is the abbreviation for Sam Bankman Fried, who was convicted in 2023 of seven criminal charges in connection with the collapse of his cryptocurrency company FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research in 2022.

Sam's father, Stanford legal scholar Joseph Bankman, signed a letter in support of Warren's proposed 2016 legislation aimed at simplifying the US tax code, and is said to have advised her on the legislation.

A spokesman for Warren's office confirmed that Bankman had no role.

Musk blamed Senator Warren's main economic and tax advisor, the father of Sam Bankman Fried, who was convicted in 2023 (Reuters)

An SEC spokesperson told CNBC via email on Thursday that agency head Gary Gensler “will respond to members of Congress directly,” and not via public or press releases.

Musk has clashed with the Securities and Exchange Commission repeatedly over the years, with federal financial regulators charging Musk with civil securities fraud after he tweeted in 2018 that he was exploring a private deal for Tesla at $420 per share and had "financing secured." To do that. Musk's tweets caused a halt to trading in Tesla shares, and caused the company's stock price to fluctuate for weeks.

The SEC is now investigating whether Musk, or anyone else, committed securities fraud in 2022 when he began buying shares in Twitter before his leveraged takeover of the company.

Musk was late in providing the required disclosure about his initial investment in Twitter, before turning the company into a private company and renaming it “X Corp.”

Another investigation into Tesla and Musk would increase tensions between the agency and one of the world's richest people on paper.

On Thursday, Tesla shares closed down 1 point on the day at $172.82, but rose slightly after hours.

Source: CNBC