Quote:
Originally Posted by BrownTown
Trust me, I am fully aware of his issues. I even put my money where my mouth is by buying put options against the stock after it went up 10% based on Musk's fraudulent tweet. I was merely pointing out that even though it was blatantly illegal it's more of a PR issue than a legal one because in the US white collar criminals like Musk virtually never get taken to account. His biggest "risk" is having a mental breakdown at this point or suffering a heart attack from the stress or drug overdose.
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Musk has exposed himself to an extremely significant risk though, not of criminal prosecution but of literally being forced to choose between losing his company or going bankrupt. Given Tesla's current burn rate, unless something radically changes Musk is going to need a liquidity injection by early next year to stay afloat. Even if he doesn't go to jail, even if he isn't prosecuted, does Musk still strike you as a man banks are going to lend billions upon billions of dollars to without any sort of preconditions?
Ironically, this is
exactly what what drove Musk's so often compared predecessor Howard Hughes into exile. In the late 50s he was unable scrap up enough cash internally to finance a fleet of new jet aircraft in order to keep of with his competitors, and the banks demanded constraints be placed his unstable leadership as a precondition to issuing loans. The loss of his independence broke Hughes, he locked himself up in a hotel room in Vegas and never came out.