According to PANews, documents obtained by Bloomberg journalist Jason Leopold through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveal several significant events involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These include confidential letters between Tesla and the SEC, emails from former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, a hacking incident of the SEC's X account, and a market-impacting AI-generated image.
The SEC provided 23 pages of correspondence between lawyers from Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and the SEC. These letters, initially marked as confidential, discuss a settlement agreement between Elon Musk and the SEC, with Musk's companies seeking exemptions from certain regulatory restrictions.
The FOIA documents also include nearly 200 pages of emails addressed to former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. These emails contain complaints about cryptocurrency scams, Tesla stock splits, and short selling. Gensler did not respond to these emails, focusing instead on his "Twitter posting schedule," with the content heavily redacted.
In January 2024, the SEC's X account (formerly Twitter) was hacked, falsely announcing the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF, causing significant market volatility. The FOIA documents reveal that the SEC's investigation into this incident remains highly confidential, with only five heavily redacted pages released.
In May 2023, an AI-generated fake image of a Pentagon explosion circulated on social media, leading to a brief downturn in U.S. stock markets. Initially, the SEC claimed to have found only one page of related records, but a successful FOIA appeal resulted in the release of 20 pages, highlighting the panic it caused on Wall Street.
Additionally, a 20-page report from the SEC's Inspector General details misleading actions by SEC internal watchdog Tracey McNeil towards Congress and violations in complaint management procedures. McNeil left the agency before the investigation concluded.