Azealia Banks wants to work with Grimes to create the soundtrack to Elon Musk's SEC 'funding secured' investigation
- Rapper Azealia Banks says she wants to work with Grimes - the singer who has been romantically linked to Elon Musk - to create a soundtrack to the Tesla CEO's SEC investigation.
- "Music is powerful and the songs we started on were clutch," Banks told Business Insider.
- Since August, Banks has been an unexpectedly linked to Musk as the Tesla CEO has come under public scrutiny.
Rapper Azealia Banks wants to make the soundtrack for Elon Musk's SEC investigation.
On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk. The suit accuses Musk of false or misleading statements about taking Tesla private at $420 per share.
Since August, Banks has been an unexpectedly linked to Musk as the Tesla CEO has come under public scrutiny. Now, Banks wants to create the soundtrack to the investigation with Grimes, Musk's one-time girlfriend, as a new twist emerges.
"Grimes and I need to finish our song and make the soundtrack to this investigation," Banks said in a direct message on Twitter to Business Insider. "Music is powerful and the songs we started on were clutch."
In mid-August, Musk set off a dramatic sequence of events for Tesla when he tweeted that he was taking the company private. In the complaint filed on Thursday, the SEC said that these tweets sparked an investigation into Musk making misleading statements.
Soon after Musk's tweets about taking Tesla public, Banks stayed at one of Musk's Los Angeles properties for a weekend, after Grimes invited her to collaborate on music.
Banks told Business Insider she saw Musk "scrounging for investors," despite the CEO claiming he had funding secured to take Tesla private. She also provided texts between herself and Grimes, in which the singer said: "he got into weed cuz of me and he's super entertained by 420 so when he decided to take the stock private he calculated it was worth 419$ so he rounded up to 420 for a laugh and now the sec is investigating him for fraud."
The texts are echoed by the SEC complaint, which states: "Musk stated that he rounded the price up to $420 because he had recently learned about the number's significance in marijuana culture and thought his girlfriend 'would find it funny, which admittedly is not a great reason to pick a price.'"
After Banks' social media claims gained widespread media attention, Musk deleted his Instagram and unfollowed Grimes on Twitter. Musk refollowed Grimes in mid-September, but as of Thursday, he does not follow the singer on Twitter.
Grimes' representatives did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Musk said in a statement that the SEC's actions have left him "deeply saddened and disappointed."
"I have always taken action in the best interests of truth, transparency and investors," Musk said. "Integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way."
If you have a story to share about Tesla or Elon Musk, email ktaylor@businessinsider.com.