Kimbal Musk and Elon Musk: Investigations on suspicion of insider trading

Kimbal Musk and Elon Musk: Investigations on suspicion of insider trading

2. März 2022 0 Von Horst Buchwald

Kimbal Musk and Elon Musk: Investigations on suspicion of insider trading

San Francisco, Feb. 3, 2022

Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk are the subject of an insider trading investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Kimbal Musk, who also sits on Tesla’s board of directors, sold 88,500 Tesla shares worth $108 million in November, a day before Musk asked Twitter users if he should sell 10% of his Tesla shares.

The SEC is investigating whether the stock sales violated insider trading rules. Elon Musk denied the allegations, telling the Financial Times that „Kimbal had no idea I was going to do a Twitter poll.“

He also said that his lawyers knew ahead of time that he would conduct the survey in early November. About 3.5 million people participated in the poll, with nearly 58% voting „yes“ to selling Musk.

On the first day of trading after the poll, Tesla shares closed at $1,162, down ~5%. Musk then sold more than $16 billion worth of Tesla stock, according to SEC filings.