President-elect Donald Trump’s new choice to head the Justice Department is reportedly the sister of the lawyer who represented Elon Musk and Tesla against federal charges that Musk committed securities fraud. If confirmed, Trump’s attorney general nominee Pamela Bondi would be in a position to shut down federal prosecutors’ ongoing investigation of Musk’s company.
Trump is also reportedly considering nominating Bondi’s brother to head the federal agency that brought fraud charges against Musk.
Bradley Bondi was listed in federal documents as Musk and Tesla’s attorney in the company’s 2018 battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a series of Musk’s tweets that the agency said misled shareholders about the financial status of the company, boosting Tesla’s stock price and leading to “significant market disruption.”
Bondi negotiated a settlement with the SEC and continued to represent Musk and Tesla when the SEC alleged that he violated the terms of the agreement a year later.
Musk appealed the case up to the Supreme Court, but the high court declined to hear the case in April.
While Bondi was representing Tesla in 2018, he testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee that the SEC should be more lenient about issuing fines against public companies.
“In my two decades of experience as a defense lawyer, an SEC investigation into potential securities law violations by a public company, even an investigation that ultimately does not find any violations of law, can take several years, distract management, and cost the company tens of millions of dollars,” Bondi testified in June 2018. “The cost of that investigation is directly borne by the shareholders of the company.”
According to multiple publications, Bondi is now being considered for the position of SEC chair, replacing outgoing head Gary Gensler.
Brad Bondi is widely reported to be Pam Bondi’s brother.
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Auteur: David Sirota
