Elon Musk and brother under investigation for alleged insider trading

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly opened an investigation into whether recent stock sales by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk violated insider trading rules.

The SEC issued a subpoena to Tesla 10 days later on 16 November seeking additional financial information.

Insider trading laws prohibit employees and board members from trading based on non-public information about a company. The investigation likely will focus on whether Kimbal sold his shares because Elon told him about the poll in advance.

The stock has fallen about 33% since Musk began selling billions of dollars worth of shares on 8 November, few days after the poll where 58% of voters asked him to sell.

Reuters contributed to this report.