The funding secured tweets from Elon Musk caught the attention of Tesla’s fans, owners, investors, and now securities and exchange commission as well. The Tesla CEO and the company is currently under investigation by the US Department of Justice for the claims made. The DoJ Investigation deals with the US attorney’s office in the Northern California district. Federal prosecutors are investigating Musk’s tweet for fraud since the claims made in those tweets led to increasing the company’s share. Further investigation will be carried out on the quick resign of Chief Accounting Officer of Tesla, Dave Morton. According to reports, he left the company in less than a month from his job.
Morton was a former CEO for Seagate Technology PLC. He joined the company one day before Musk issued the tweet to take the company private. Bloomberg first released the story. In response to the question, the company said, “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 company said in a statement released Tuesday following Bloomberg’s report of the investigation. “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.”
Tesla was given a subpoena regarding those tweets from the SEC. The issue with the SEC began from the initial tweet. Musk later clarified that he was talking about conversations with Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. He said that the group said they want to take the company private in early 2017. However, Tesla board then clarified the company had not received any formal proposal from Musk. Musk said he that he gave up the effort three weeks after his initial tweet. Harvey Pitt, a former SEC chairman who now leads advisory firm Kalorama Partners, “The whole format of his announcement was highly problematic and very unusual. You can’t tell a lie.”
