There is no ambiguity in what "closing the position" means. Stating on CNBC that you have closed the position when in fact you only bought shares to cover 1% of your short would put you in jail.
Your mental model for how the world works is wrong.
Is it equally illegal to say on CNBC that you closed it out, but to email your investors and tell them you didn't?
Is the legal issue that you're misleading your investors or that you're manipulating the market? Both?
And despite how it seems from outside Wall Street, hedge funds are definitely scared of the SEC. Banks worry less because their money is sourced differently. Hedge funds have to worry about legal action not just for the fines but also for scaring their investors. When individual investors are so large it only takes a few redemptions to significantly impact AUM.