Elon Musk: The SEC Forced Me to Pay a Fine—or Tesla Would’ve Gone Bankrupt

Elon Musk: The SEC forced me to pay a fine although I was found not guilty.

“I did actually have the funding secured. There was a big trial in San Francisco, a big civil trial. The jury found me not guilty. Unanimous finding of a San Francisco jury.

The reason I agreed to the fine for the SEC is not because the SEC was correct. That was extremely bad behavior by the SEC. Corruption, frankly.

But if I did not agree to pay the fine, Tesla would have gone bankrupt immediately.

I was told by our CFO that the banks would immediately suspend our lines of credit. If they suspended our lines of credit at that time, we would have gone bankrupt instantly.

There would never have been an opportunity for a trial, because Tesla would be dead.

This is like someone holding a gun to your kid's head and saying, pay $20 million. This is like a hostage negotiation.”

Lex Fridman Podcast, November 9, 2023