The Securities and Exchange Commission had concluded that Musk did not have the funding to take the company private.

Musk said that funding was secured with the company back in the day.

The SEC ordered Musk to have his tweets reviewed by a lawyer before they are posted on the internet. The order is based on Musk's decision to send the now-notorious funding secured message on August 7th, 2018, in which he claimed to have the finances to take the company private. Since 2010, the company has been publicly traded.

“funding was actually secured”

The SEC launched an investigation after concluding that Musk had never discussed a going-private transaction of $420 per share with any potential funding source.

During his appearance on the TED talk, Musk offered more insight into why he believes the SEC is singling him out. When Chris Anderson asked Musk if he had secured funding for his takeover bid, Musk took that as a sign.

I should say that I don't have respect for the SEC in that situation. The SEC pursued an active public investigation because they knew that funding was secured.

“the SEC knew that funding was secured, but they pursued an active public investigation nonetheless”

Musk said that the company was under attack from short sellers who were betting that it would go bankrupt. The company was trying to scale production of the Model 3 electric sedan, which was proving to be far more difficult than Musk and the company's top executives anticipated. Musk said that he felt coerced into the settlement with the SEC in order to ensure that the banks would continue to provide capital to the company so it wouldn't go bankrupt.

Musk said that he was forced to concede to the SEC unlawfully. Those people.

The SEC is looking into whether recent stock sales by Musk and his brother violated insider trading rules. The investigation began after Musk and his brother sold their shares in the company. On the day of the sale, Musk promised to abide by the results of the poll on whether he should sell a tenth of his stake in the company.