|
|
|
|
|
The Morning Risk Report: SEC Subpoenas Tesla Seeking Information Linked to Elon Musk Settlement
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. The Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed Tesla Inc. for information about compliance with a court-ordered settlement requiring certain of Elon Musk’s tweets be preapproved.
Tesla said in a regulatory filing made public Monday that the SEC had sought information on “governance processes around compliance” with a settlement related to Mr. Musk’s 2018 tweet claiming to have secured funding to potentially take the electric-vehicle maker private.
[Continued below...]
|
|
|
Mr. Musk paid $20 million to settle an SEC enforcement action alleging that he committed fraud by tweeting about a potential buyout. The SEC also insisted on an unusual ongoing requirement: A Tesla lawyer would review his social media posts and certain other public statements. He also agreed to relinquish his role as company chairman, while remaining chief executive.
Tesla said in the securities filing that the SEC issued the subpoena—typically a sign of a formal investigation—on Nov. 16. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment. The SEC declined to comment.
Disclosure of the subpoena revives scrutiny of Mr. Musk’s use of social media, which the SEC has tried for years to rein in.
|
|
|
|
From Risk & Compliance Journal
|
|
|
Hytera charged with stealing Motorola technology. A U.S. indictment alleges a China-based telecommunications company conspired to steal digital mobile radio technology developed by Motorola Solutions Inc.
The 21-count indictment, partially unsealed in federal court in Chicago on Monday, alleges that Shenzhen, China-based Hytera Communications Corp. hired Motorola Solutions employees and instructed them to steal proprietary information from Motorola on its DMR technology while employed there. The technology is used in radios referred to as walkie-talkies.
Calls and emails placed to Hytera weren’t immediately returned.
|
|
|
|
|
Stephen Calk was the founder and former chairman of the Federal Savings Bank in Chicago.
PHOTO: RICHARD DREW/ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
|
|
|
Former bank executive sentenced on bribery conviction tied to Paul Manafort loans. A former bank executive was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in prison for corruptly arranging $16 million in loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in an effort to obtain a high-ranking government job.
Stephen Calk, the founder and former chairman of the Federal Savings Bank in Chicago, was convicted last year of financial-institution bribery and conspiracy to commit financial-institution bribery. Federal prosecutors said Mr. Calk pushed the bank to approve the loans for Mr. Manafort, despite red flags, because he wanted a Trump administration post.
|
|
|
|
|
James Taylor resigned as chief executive of delivery-van company Electric Last Mile Solutions after a board investigation.
PHOTO: TAYLOR GLASCOCK/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
|
Green startups stumble. Electric-vehicle startups and other green tech companies soared early last year. Now a wave of investigations, outside allegations and growing investor skepticism have sent shares down 75% or more for many of them.
Last week, investigations by boards of directors into top executives at two electric-vehicle makers led to management changes. A short seller alleged that a startup lithium producer’s technology doesn’t work. And an agriculture-technology company’s shares fell further after it wrote off most of the value of a recent acquisition.
Corporate climate plans fall short. A report by NewClimate Institute, a group that pushes for action on climate change, found that the climate commitments of 25 big companies for the most part short on ambition and transparency.
The institute, which assessed the commitments of 25 big companies, said the plans lacked detail on how targets would be achieved and relied on companies compensating for emissions by buying carbon offsets.
Carbon capture gets new boost. Carbon-capture projects are attracting renewed attention from investors and governments world-wide as concerns mount about the greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change. But the initiatives have a dismal record.
More than 80% of proposed commercial carbon-capture efforts around the world have failed, primarily because the technology didn’t work as expected or the projects proved too expensive to operate, according to a 2020 study.
|
|
|
|
|
President Biden met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the White House on Monday.
PHOTO: ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
|
|
|
Biden says Nord Stream 2 won’t go forward if Russia invades Ukraine. President Biden said the Russian-built Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline to Germany would be suspended if Russia invades Ukraine, with the German chancellor offering support but without explicitly saying the project would be killed.
The potential fate of Nord Stream 2 has been closely watched as the U.S. and its allies put together a raft of punishing sanctions and other economic measures to be imposed in the event of a Russian assault on Ukraine.
|
|
|
IRS retreats from facial recognition. The Internal Revenue Service is scrapping its use of a private facial-recognition system to authenticate taxpayers’ identities for online accounts, the agency said on Monday after criticism from lawmakers in both parties over privacy concerns.
|
|
Israel grapples with spyware scandal. Israeli authorities launched a state inquiry on Monday into allegations that the country’s police illicitly used spyware to hack the phones of political activists, senior government bureaucrats and people close to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
|
|
|
|
Daniel Ek. PHOTO: DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
Spotify CEO apologizes to employees for Joe Rogan. Spotify Technology SA Chief Executive Daniel Ek apologized to employees for the way Joe Rogan’s use of a racial slur in previous podcast episodes has affected them, saying the situation “leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard.”
|
|
|
He said in a letter shared with The Wall Street Journal by a company spokesman that he has no plans to remove the star podcaster from the streaming platform and committed to spending $100 million on music and audio content from what he called historically marginalized groups.
|
|
|
Peter Thiel to step down from Meta board. Peter Thiel, one of Facebook’s earliest investors and its longest-serving outside board member, is planning to step down from his position at the social-media giant, parent company Meta Platforms Inc. said on Monday.
Mr. Thiel intends to focus his efforts on helping Republican candidates supporting the agenda of former President Donald Trump in the 2022 midterm elections, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Thiel decided now was the right time to leave Facebook’s board rather than be a distraction to the company ahead of the coming elections, the person said.
|
|
|
Evidence builds that U.S. Omicron wave is waning. Evidence mounted that the Covid-19 wave driven by the Omicron variant is waning in the U.S. as a downturn in cases and hospitalizations continued over the weekend and deaths of people diagnosed with the disease appear to have stopped climbing.
Recorded infections have shown a sharp fall, with the seven-day average of new cases on Sunday dropping below 300,000 daily for the first time this year, data from Johns Hopkins University show. A week earlier, the seven-day daily case average was over 500,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|