So how many financial execs got punished for creating the 2008 financial crisis, the worst in our lifetimes (hopefully) , which brought the world to the brink ? https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/finance/309544-why-ha...

What they did might have been morally appalling, but much harder to pin as breaking a law. What Elon did was a blatant and highly public violation of regulations

Obviously Elon’s mistake was not changing the laws to make his crime legal. Cf Goldman Sachs the great vampire squid.

Most of the root of the financial crisis was things that weren't illegal.

Poor lending standards and verification practices.

Financial institutions buying and selling complicated derivatives they should have understood but didn't.

Relying on ratings agencies to do a good job, when they didn't.

Relying on insurance that wasn't appropriately priced or capitalized to cover the risk.

There was some outright fraud in loan applications and foreclosures, which was prosecuted when there was sufficient evidence.

All of these stupid decisions and the resulting easy money distorted the housing market, and the results when it fell apart were painful, but bank execs don't have a legal duty to not engage in stupid endaevors or maintain the stability of our markets. On the other hand, officers of a public company do have a legal duty not to knowingly distribute misleading information about their company in order to manipulate the stock price.

Not an apples to apples comparison there, but even if it were; is your argument now that we should let Elon get away with breaking the law because others have gotten away with it in the past and you happen to respect Elon more than those people?