Tesla's stocks after the civil society was the subject of a criminal investigation into Musk's tweet

Shares of Tesla Inc. Abandoned Earlier Gains and Falled by More Than 5% Tuesday After Report Says Silicon Valley Auto Manufacturer Was Under Criminal Investigation for Executive Director Elon Musk's Private Tweet .

Federal prosecutors have opened a fraud investigation to examine Musk's statements on Twitter, Bloomberg News reported, citing two people familiar with the subject. Tesla did not make an immediate comment and a spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment, according to the report.

In a statement to several news agencies, Tesla said that last month, the company had received a "voluntary request" for documents from the Justice Department and that it had "cooperated to respond".

Tesla has not received a subpoena, request for testimony or formal proceedings, he said. "We respect the Ministry of Information's desire to obtain information about this and we believe that the problem must be resolved quickly when they examine the information they have received," the company said.

The investigation reports "will be a surplus on stocks until more information is published," Baird analysts said in a note. Musk will probably be responsible for the fines, but not necessarily Tesla, although the details are unclear, they said.

Musk on August 7th tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla

TSLA, -3.85%

private sector, followed by the term "secured financing".

The tweet surprised other members of Tesla's board of directors and created some volatility in the action, as many investors and analysts wondered if this phrase was accurate. The Securities and Exchange Commission would investigate whether the funding had been obtained. Musk said on August 24 that he was keeping Tesla public.

Read more: Tesla may find it difficult to remain an independent business, according to analyst

Since then, the CEO has been involved in more controversy, including smoking a joint during a filmed interview and being sued for defamation by a cave explorer involved in the rescue. a Thai football team.

Tesla shares had been discarded in recent sessions and are down 9% this year. This contrasts with the gains of 9% and 6% for the S & P 500 index

SPX, + 0.75%

and the Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJIA, + 0.96%