Tesla CEO filed the lawsuit with the Santa Clara County Superior Court on Wednesday and the company is seeking compensation though the amount sought has not been specified.
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Tesla is suing a California oil-industry exec, accusing him of impersonating billionaire Elon Musk in an email message in a freaky effort to glean non-public financial information. “This could have resulted in highly valuable information being improperly disclosed”.
Wheeler wasn’t fooled, and didn’t respond to “Elon” with the requested financial information, which would have constituted secrets not available to the general public. In the second quarter, for instance, the company reported a loss of $293.2 million on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)-basis – much higher than analysts’ estimates.
Tesla said its execs didn’t supply Katz with any information, and that the August 3 email is the only known attempt by Katz to get inside dirt from the company. Some investors also have misgivings about the company’s pending acquisition of money-losing solar company SolarCity Corp. Tesla co-founder and chief executive officer Elon Musk’s woes deepened this month with the explosion of one of his SpaceX rockets on the launch pad. The email itself was signed off with the initials “em”.
The complaint claims that Katz was “impersonating Musk in an attempt to unlawfully obtain material, non-public information-including Tesla’s financial trade secrets-from Tesla’s CFO through fraud, artifice and deception”. The e-mail read, “Why you so cautious w Q3/4 guidance on call”.
According to Bloomberg, Tesla believes that the email was an oil industry tactic to undermine the electric carmaker’s push for sustainable transportation.
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“In recent years, oil companies have spent billions of dollars on legislative efforts and campaigns aimed at blocking progress toward electric cars and other sustainable energy solutions in the United States and overseas”, Tesla said. “Honest best guess.no bs”.
