In a letter written to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan on Monday, Elon Musk’s attorney said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) leaked information about the ongoing federal investigation as retaliation for the Tesla CEO’s criticism of the regulator, according to CNBC.
The investigation refers to an ongoing SEC probe over a 2018 Musk tweet about taking the company private.
In the letter, Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro said, “It has become clearer and clearer that the Commission is out to retaliate against my clients for exercising their First Amendment rights — most recently by criticizing the Commission on the public docket and by petitioning this Court for relief.”
Elon Musk’s 2018 Tweet About Taking Tesla Private Was ‘Entirely Truthful’ https://t.co/DBWy39VVVB
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) February 2, 2022
Spiro did not include what or what type of information had been leaked, nor did he provide any supporting evidence of the claim in the letter, which said at least one individual member of the SEC had leaked “certain information regarding its investigation.”
Earlier this month, Spiro also claimed that the SEC was harassing Musk with unfounded investigations, to which the SEC responded saying Tesla wasn’t following proper procedures to challenge the subpoena issued last November.
