A startup that Elon Musk helped found and run is under scrutiny from the federal government over accusations that they lied about the entrepreneur’s role at the company.
Neuralink most infamously has suggested that it hopes to implant computer chips into peoples’ brains.
About a half dozen Neuralink employees, most speaking anonymously to securities lawyers out of fear of retribution from Musk, voiced concern about the billionaire.
Central to the investigation is a 2018 letter where an attorney representing the startup allegedly downplayed Musk’s role with Neuralink to the SEC.
This goes against what the employees suggested, which is that Musk is the one pulling the strings.
Roel Campos – a former SEC commissioner who wrote the letter on Neuralink’s behalf – said that the company’s only relation to Musk’s Tesla is through the billionaire’s role as a ‘shared mutual investor.’
Campos added that ‘Musk has no executive or management role at Neuralink’ and ‘does not serve as an officer or director.’
The letter was sent in the days following an SEC lawsuit filed against Musk over tweets the Tesla CEO sent threatening to take the car company private. Musk paid a $20million fine and quit as Tesla CEO.
Neuralink was exempt from having to register the sale of shares with the SEC because Campos argued on his behalf that he had only minor involvement in the company and Musk avoided making misleading statements about Tesla.
The employees spoken to by the federal government said that Musk was referring to himself as CEO of Neuralink in 2018. Musk has never officially been listed as the CEO since the company was founded in 2016, but the employees said he has been consistently in charge.
Musk has demonstrated the Neuralink brain chip in a pig and a monkey and a new job listing from the company suggests we could soon see it perform in a human brain.
The firm is now hiring a clinical trial director, which says the right candidate will ‘work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first Clinical Trial participants.’
Neuralink has not responded to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
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