Performing Head of SEC Was Solely Commissioner Who Did not Vote to Sue Elon Musk

Simply earlier than Donald Trump took workplace in January, the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee reportedly held a vote on whether or not the company would sue Elon Musk for alleged violations of securities legislation associated to his buy of Twitter. According to Reuters, 4 commissioners—three Democrats and one Republican—voted to maneuver ahead with authorized motion in opposition to Musk. The lone “no” vote got here from Mark Uyeda. He’s now the performing head of the company.

At situation with the Musk case was his failure to share the truth that he had acquired greater than 5% of shares in Twitter whereas it was nonetheless public, a threshold that requires public disclosure inside 10 calendar days. Musk held onto the knowledge for the complete 10 days after which not less than 10 extra days, according to an SEC complaint, which allegedly allowed him to underpay for the shares by not less than $150 million. As soon as Musk did lastly make public that he owned greater than 5% of the corporate, Twitter’s share price climbed 27%.

The SEC has been investigating that, together with different shady exercise surrounding Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, since 2022. On January 14, 2025, the commissioners put it to a vote to find out if the company would pursue authorized motion based mostly on the findings of its investigation. Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce took situation with how a lot the SEC needed to advantageous Musk, according to Reuters, however voted for the lawsuit anyway.

However Uyeda took a distinct route. In line with a report from Bloomberg, he began lobbying SEC staffers to signal a pledge declaring that the case in opposition to Musk was not motivated by politics. Insisting {that a} case is just not political is just not a factor the SEC does (additionally declaring this case is just not political implies different ones are, so it’d be bizarre to do) and workers refused to signal the pledge. With mainly nobody behind him, Uyeda voted no on the movement to sue Musk, and the motion passed, 4 to 1.

And now, somewhat over a month later, Uyeda has been tapped by Trump to be the performing head of the SEC. The company remains to be transferring ahead with the lawsuit in opposition to Musk—the truth is, he simply received served a court summons associated to the case final week that requires him or his legal professionals to reply by April 4. However he can most likely relaxation simple realizing the man on the prime of the company is on his facet. That, mixed with Trump’s executive order declaring previous Biden administration investigations to be politically motivated, the SEC adopting a new rule including hurdles to conducting investigations, and the ongoing gutting of the agency by Musk himself and the Division of Authorities Effectivity, offers Musk fairly a little bit of sway in deciding the end result of any motion in opposition to him.