Elon Musk is said to have hired a lawyer who used to work for the SEC as the agency reportedly investigates his 'funding secured' tweet
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hired two lawyers, Roel Campos and Steven Farina, as the Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly investigates statements Musk made about converting Tesla into a private company, Fox Business Network reports.
- Campos was an SEC commissioner from 2002 until 2007.
- Farina and Campos list securities enforcement and securities litigation among their areas of focus.
- Tesla, Campos, and Farina did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hired two lawyers as the Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly investigates statements Musk made about converting Tesla into a private company, Fox Business Network reports.
One of the lawyers Musk reportedly retained, Roel Campos, was an SEC commissioner from 2002 until 2007. Campos is a partner at the firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed and lists securities enforcement, securities litigation, and regulatory cases among his areas of focus on the firm's website. Musk has also reportedly retained Steven Farina, a partner at Williams & Connolly who focuses on securities enforcement and securities litigation, among other practice areas, according to the firm's website.
The Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino said on Twitter that Tesla's board of directors has retained Daniel Kramer, a partner at Paul Weiss. Kramer lists securities litigation and regulatory cases among his specialties on the firm's website.
Tesla, Campos, Farina, and Kramer did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.
Musk attracted controversy in August over his statements about wanting to take Tesla private, which raised questions about the certainty of funding Musk referenced in a tweet and where exactly that funding would come from. Fox Business and The New York Times reported that the SEC had sent subpoenas to Tesla concerning Tesla's plans to explore going private and Musk's statements about the process.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the agency had been investigating how the company communicated production issues it faced with its Model 3 sedan before Musk's tweets about going private.
Two weeks after saying he was considering taking Tesla private, Musk said it will remain a public company. Though he said in a post on Tesla's website that he believed there was "more than enough funding" to complete a go-private deal, he said the process of going private could create distractions for the company and problems for its current investors, some of whom had told Musk they would prefer Tesla remain public, he said.
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