Elon Musk: ‘I want to be clear, I do not respect the SEC’ (TSLA)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk slammed the Security and Exchange Commission in an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday.

"I want to be clear, I do not respect the SEC, I do not respect them," Musk said when asked about the SEC lawsuit brought against the company earlier this year.

The SEC sued Musk in September alleging that he shared "false and misleading statements" about taking Tesla private when he tweeted about doing exactly that.

Musk reached a settlement with the SEC in late September that required him to pay $20 million and step down as Tesla's chairman for a minimum of three years. Tesla was also required to pay $20 million to the SEC as part of the deal.

What's more, the SEC said Tesla must put "additional controls and procedures to oversee Musk's communications," including his tweets.

However, during the interview, Musk said no one has reviewed any of his tweets since the settlement with the SEC. When pressed on the topic, Musk said "I guess we might make some mistakes, who knows. Nobody's perfect."

Musk also spoke candidly about how he felt about stepping down as Tesla's chairman. When asked if the new chairman was put in place to watch over Musk "like a babysitter," Musk said that wasn't the case.

"It's not realistic in the sense that I am the largest shareholder of the company and I can call for a shareholder vote and get anything done that I want," Musk said.

When Musk was asked if he would like to go back to being chairman, he replied, "I prefer no titles at all."

Musk also said he doesn't "really want to try to adhere to some CEO template."

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