The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has reopened its investigation into Elon Musk’s brain-chip company Neuralink, according to a letter shared by Musk on the social media platform X on Thursday.
The letter, dated December 12, was written by Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro and addressed to outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler. It also revealed that the SEC has given Musk a 48-hour deadline to either accept a monetary settlement or face charges related to the investigation of his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Musk has since rebranded Twitter as ‘X’. The exact settlement amount was not disclosed in the letter.
Musk has been a long-time adversary of the SEC. Last year, four U.S. lawmakers urged the agency to investigate whether Musk had misled investors regarding the safety of a brain implant being developed by Neuralink. It remains unclear what impact, if any, the SEC’s actions might have on Musk, who also leads Tesla and SpaceX. His companies are seen as largely insulated from regulatory actions, and Musk’s influence grew further after his substantial financial backing for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Additionally, Musk was appointed by Trump to a task force aimed at reforming the U.S. government.
In the letter, Spiro emphasized that neither he nor Musk would be “intimidated” by the SEC and that they would reserve their legal rights. The SEC and Neuralink did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Earlier this year, a federal judge dismissed the SEC’s request to sanction Musk after he failed to attend court-ordered testimony regarding the Twitter acquisition investigation into possible securities violations in 2022.
This is not the first legal battle Musk has faced with the SEC. In 2018, the agency sued him over tweets claiming he was taking Tesla private. He settled that lawsuit by paying a $20 million fine, agreeing to allow Tesla’s lawyers to pre-screen certain tweets, and stepping down as Tesla’s chairman.
