Tesla’s Elon Musk would probably be the President of the ever-growing ‘My Tweets Get Me In Trouble Club For Men’, if it weren’t for the actual President of the United States.
Following a tumultuous few months for the Tesla CEO, the US government has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into the company, following revelations he had the “funding secured” to take the company private once again.
Following a Bloomberg report, Tesla has confirmed it is co-operating with a request for documents from the US Department of Justice. The reported fraud investigation is in its early stages, according to the sources.
“Last month, following Elon’s announcement that he was considering taking the company private, Tesla received a voluntary request for documents from the DOJ and has been cooperative in responding to it,” the statement in response to the report means reads.
“We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process. We respect the DOJ’s desire to get information about this and believe that the matter should be quickly resolved as they review the information they have received.”
It appears the DOJ is seeking information about whether that funding actually was secured. That initial declaration from Musk saw Tesla shares spike, but they’re down 6% following the Bloomberg report.
Musk (or more likely the Tesla board) quickly dropped the idea he floated on Twitter on August 7, which was followed by an official blog post explaining how the potential buy back of shares would work.
That was also believed to have alarmed the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) in the United States, which reportedly has an ongoing investigation into the ‘funding secured’ tweet.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
A little over a fortnight later on August 24, Musk declared Tesla was “Staying Public” in a further blog post.
What do you make of the current situation at Tesla? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
