SEC Files Lawsuit Against Musk

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit accusing Tesla CEO Elon Musk of securities fraud.

The SEC says Mr Musk's claims that he had secured funding to take the electric carmaker private were "false and misleading".

It is seeking to bar Mr Musk from acting as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.

Mr Musk called the action "unjustified" saying he acted in the "best interests of truth, transparency and investors".

As per the BBC:

"Integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way."

Tesla's board of directors said in a statement that they were "fully confident in Elon, his integrity and his leadership of the company".

Leave corporate communications to the lawyers and professionals!

HSBC Subject To SEC Probe

HSBC, whilst reporting a $1.33 billion net loss in the fourth quarter, has warned of a “bumpier financial environment” from China’s slowing economy.

Additionally, as per the Wall Street Journal, it said that its hiring practices in China are being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, bringing the bank into the so-called “princelings” probe that is studying whether more than half a dozen U.S. and European lenders violated antibribery laws by hiring relatives of high-ranking Chinese government officials. HSBC said it is cooperating with the investigation and said it couldn’t predict the timing or impact on the bank.

In an update on its five-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, HSBC reported setbacks in its programs to comply with the agreement. The independent monitor in charge of assessing its compliance found instances of potential financial crime and had “significant concerns” about the bank’s pace of progress in its most recent report in January.

The monitor withheld a crucial certification around HSBC’s remedial measures, “pending further review and discussion with HSBC.”

The Faecesbook Clusterfuck - The IPO That Just Keeps Giving

The clusterfuck IPO of Facebook last week is an IPO that, for those who haven't touched these shares with a bargepole, that just keeps giving.

Unsurprisingly these massively overvalued shares fell again yesterday, by 9%. However, Faecesbook mission to "find bottom" in the market is far from over.

The BBC reports that the SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) are concerned about the way advisers disclosed information to investors, and may review the disclosure process to see if some investors got favourable access.

Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported that Faecesbook's advisers may have revised their financial forecasts, but that only selected investors were told.

Oops, how very remiss of them!

Morgan Stanley said that the bank had:

"followed the same procedures for the Facebook offering that it follows for all initial public offerings".

In other news, Philip Goldberg (a private investor) has issued a writ against Nasdaq over technical problems on Friday that made a shambles of disrupted Faecesbook's first trading day.

Rest assured, the Faecesbook clusterfuck will run and run!