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Tesla Faces FBI Probe Over Model 3 Production Numbers (cnbc.com)
A new report from The Wall Street Journal says the FBI is reviewing Tesla's Model 3 production numbers as part of an ongoing criminal probe into whether the company misled investors. "Federal agents are reviewing Tesla's stated Model 3 numbers dating back to early 2017, the Journal reports, citing unnamed sources," CNBC reports. From the report: Tesla had previously said it provided documents to the Department of Justice regarding CEO Elon Musk's controversial take-private tweet -- a blunder that ultimately cost Tesla and Musk a combined $40 million in fraud settlement fees. Now Tesla says it also provided information to the Department of Justice regarding Musk's public statements regarding production numbers of its Model 3 sedan. Tesla says the company has not received "a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process," but the Journal reported Friday that former Tesla employees have received subpoenas and requests for testimony.
You mean like the Saudis, who own 5% of Tesla?
Has there ever been a company which has had to endure as much media sponsored market manipulation as Tesla?
Two days ago the news headline was:
"Tesla reports surprise profit, stock surges. Tesla reported its third-ever profit in its eight years as a public company. This exceeded average analyst expectations of losses of 15 cents per share on revenue of $6.32 billion."
Today more speculative drama chipping away at its integrity and success.
Did that "stock surge" burn someone? Did someone think "oh dear, I was wrong, I should have gotten in earlier" or are the shorties still dreaming they can topple it?
The story is old news and Tesla made a statement they haven't received any subpoenas from the DOJ.
The story was conveniently (for some) released as the stock was hitting +8% in a bear market, and it promptly dropped to around 0% for the day.
After about 20 minutes the market realized the story was bullshit and the stock continued to rise 5% by closing time, but the doubt has been sowed and momentum slowed.
It is illegal if they made X cars but reported X+Y cars.
It would be illegal to give an inflated forecast about production rate knowingly. It would be very hard to prove Tesla knew it is going to miss production deadlines and still misrepresented the issue. With all that talk about production hell, and sleeping in the factory etc, they made no effort to conceal the problems they had in production.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact