The Man Who Will Save the World
By 
Remember when people actually looked up to Elon Musk? I realize these people were stupid. But there were a lot of them. Now, Musk’s endless beclowning continues, including over his shitty cars.
Elon Musk faces allegations that he illegally sold $7.5 billion worth of equity in Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2022, knowing that the business would disappoint after promising investors an “epic end of year.”
In a lawsuit filed with a Delaware court late last week, shareholder Michael Perry accused both the CEO of deliberately unloading nearly 45 million shares in advance of poor vehicle sales data to prevent an estimated 55% hit in value, and almost the entire board of collectively violating their responsibility of directors toward shareholders.
“By disposing of $7,530,113,926 worth of Tesla stock in November and December 2022 while he was in possession of adverse, material non-public information, E. Musk exploited his position at Tesla, and he breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla,” the lawsuit claims, adding other directors were both “knowing and culpable” as well.
Unlike previous stock sales by Tesla insiders, however, these were not the result of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, which removes discretion over timing from an insider and hands them to a third-party broker.
Tesla shares slumped to a two-year low on Jan. 3, 2023, following the release of the car sales data.
He is asking for Musk’s illegal gains—which the plaintiff estimates at $3 billion—to be returned to the company via disgorgement, and is seeking damages from all eight directors at the time for their “reckless disregard.”
The insider trading claims are Musk’s latest legal headache following the January ruling that voided his 2018 shareholder vote for a record compensation deal. Tesla is re-running the vote at the June 13 annual meeting.
I await further beclownings.