As Musk gains influence, questions hover over US probes into his empire

Last month, in the waning days of the Biden administration, the SEC set a tight deadline of several days for demanding that Elon Musk pay a settlement or face civil charges relating to alleged securities violations during his $44 billion takeover of Twitter in 2022.

Musk broke the news himself in a social-media post: “Oh Gary, how could you do this to me?” he wrote, referring to SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

He added a smiley-face emoji but attached a legal letter condemning the “improperly motivated” ultimatum: “We demand to know who directed these actions—whether it was you or the White House.”

An SEC spokesperson declined to comment on the incident. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The SEC is among many agencies Musk has accused of political harassment, as he portrays himself as a victim of bureaucrats stifling innovation.

The White House will soon be occupied by Donald Trump — whom Musk spent more than a quarter-billion dollars to help elect. Trump has already named a new SEC chair to replace Gensler, who plans to resign upon Trump's inauguration.

Musk's potential influence with the new administration raises questions about some 20 ongoing federal investigations into his companies, according to sources familiar with SpaceX and Tesla operations and officials with direct knowledge of the probes.

These inquiries span alleged securities violations, Tesla's Autopilot and FSD safety concerns, Neuralink's animal welfare practices, and various issues at SpaceX including pollution and hiring discrimination.

Musk-related cases could be dropped

The Musk-related cases could stall or be dropped under Trump appointees, current and former officials said. Trump's DOJ picks include his former defense lawyers and an FBI chief nominee whom Musk supported.

Musk and his companies did not comment. Before the election, Musk posted: "I have never asked [Trump] for any favors, nor has he offered me any."

A Trump spokesperson called Musk "brilliant" and promised equal treatment under law.

While some experts suggest career prosecutors may pursue strong cases regardless of politics, others note that officials might avoid aggressively pursuing Musk given his Trump connection.

Federal agencies with pending Musk inquiries declined to comment on enforcement plans. The EPA and NHTSA said they would continue fulfilling their regulatory duties.

‘First buddy’

Since the election, Musk has called himself Trump's "first buddy," frequented Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago club, shared Thanksgiving with the president-elect's family and weighed in publicly on his cabinet appointments.

Trump appointed Musk to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” a private entity advising on slashing budgets and regulations. It remains unclear what authority the role will carry.

Musk has touted his newfound influence and given specific examples of how he might use it. Before the election, Musk said he would seek to use his efficiency-czar post to advance national driverless-vehicle regulations that would almost certainly benefit Tesla and eliminate “irrational” rules such as one resulting in a pollution fine against SpaceX.

NHTSA officials have repeatedly scrutinized Tesla for nearly a decade, at times enraging Musk. During one 2016 call, he screamed profanities at regulators launching the first of several investigations into Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assistance system after a fatal crash, according to two people familiar with the matter. There are currently five ongoing and open NHTSA probes covering driver-assistance technology and other operations in Tesla vehicles.

Tesla blames drivers

Tesla has blamed Tesla drivers in defending itself against lawsuits and investigations over accidents involving FSD and Autopilot, saying it had warned drivers to pay attention.

A DOJ probe into whether Tesla and Musk exaggerated its vehicles’ self-driving capabilities is among those where investigators have faced challenges. Prosecutors have grappled with demonstrating that Musk and Tesla crossed a line from legal salesmanship into knowingly making false claims that misled investors and harmed consumers. The probe had stalled before the election in part due to the legal hurdles, a person familiar with the investigation said.

Another probe, by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, involves the driving range of Tesla vehicles and followed a Reuters investigation that found the automaker had rigged its in-dash displays to give drivers “rosy” projections about how many miles they could drive on battery power. It was unclear how far the probe has progressed.

"To our knowledge no government agency in any ongoing investigation has concluded that any wrongdoing occurred," Tesla said in quarterly SEC filings.

Reuters was the first to report some Trump auto-policy advisors have recommended killing a requirement that automakers report data on crashes involving automated-driving systems, a measure that could cripple NHTSA’s ability to investigate and regulate the emerging technology’s safety.

Rockets and NASA

SpaceX already faces little regulatory scrutiny because the government has outsourced much of its space missions to Musk's rocket-and-satellite firm, according to two former SpaceX officials and a current government official familiar with the company’s interactions with NASA, the EPA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

During a September summit, Musk labeled “insane” an EPA inquiry that resulted in SpaceX agreeing to a proposed $148,378 fine for dumping pollutants, which Musk said were actually “drinking water.”

The FAA separately in September proposed fining SpaceX $633,000 for allegedly failing to follow license requirements and not getting approval for changes during two launches in 2023.

Musk called for FAA chief Mike Whitaker to resign in September, shortly after the FAA fined SpaceX and delayed one of its launches. Whitaker said last month he would step down before Trump's term.

Musk in 'regular contact' with Putin

The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Three sources familiar with SpaceX’s government interactions said any scrutiny into Musk’s contacts with a U.S. adversary would be unlikely under Trump, who has picked tech billionaire Jared Isaacman to run NASA. Isaacman has financed and joined two private space missions involving SpaceX.

NASA declined to comment and Isaacman and a media representative for Isaacman's company did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk did not respond to requests for comment regarding his reported contacts with Putin. In one instance, he responded with two laughing and crying emojis to a social-media post on X suggesting that Musk critics were attempting to portray him as a Russian agent.