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As it becomes less and less likely that Tesla will become private at $ 420 per share, the chances that Tesla or CEO Elon Musk or both will be penalized for saying that this would only increase.
The solar and electric vehicle manufacturer is facing a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, Federal officials told Bloomberg about Musk's public proclamation on Twitter on Aug. 7.
Tesla confirmed in a statement that it had received a "voluntary request for DOJ documents and that it had cooperated to respond," according to CNBC, and that "we have not received any summonses, requests for testimony, or any other process. formal. "
Tesla shares climbed after Musk's tweet, increasing the company's market capitalization by nearly $ 4 billion until the negotiations were temporarily halted. These fortunes were more than reversed Tuesday with a sharp decline of more than 4%. (The company's market capitalization is currently around $ 48 billion, down more than $ 10 billion from last month.)
The DOJ's investigation adds to two separate civil investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission. One of them, which resulted in a summons, examines Musk's tweets and the other examines whether Musk has misled investors into model 3 production.
In a blog seeking to temper outrage after his tweet, Musk said Saudi Arabia's sovereign fund had approached him "several times to take Tesla privately", justifying his demand for "secured financing."
Tesla's board of directors threw out such notions after a meeting later in the month. The possibility was disqualified on Monday, with news that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is investing $ 1 billion in Lucid Motors, a competing start-up electric vehicle.
The board has reportedly stepped up its research over the last few months so that a # 2 officer helps relieve some of the burden at Tesla, where the tension of a year that Musk has described as "unsustainable" in a New York Times interview show.
In July, the CEO began a diversion in Thailand, where he accused a British rescue diver of being a "pedo guy" after the diver rescued a team of football players trapped in a flooded cave.
Musk apologized for this claim, then said it was "strange", the diver had not sued him, and later he described the diver as a "child molester" in an e-mail. at BuzzFeed News. (The diver, Vernon Unsworth, has since filed a lawsuit.)
Musk continued his series of questionable behavior this month when he appeared in Joe Rogan's podcast and began smoking what Rogan said was marijuana:
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