The Department of Justice is looking into Tesla founder Elon Musk’s August tweet that he had obtained financing to take the electric carmaker private.
“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,” a company spokesperson said Tuesday. “We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process.”
The probe will run alongside a separate review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Bloomberg News, which was first to report what it characterized as a “criminal investigation.” A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment.
At the center of the matter is Musk’s post that he would offer Tesla stockholders $420 a share to take the company private, adding that he had “funding secured” for the deal. The tweet came after reports that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund would take a $2 billion stake in Tesla.
Musk later abandoned the plan, but the incident added to concerns that his personal behavior — like smoking pot on American comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast — was overshadowing Tesla’s operational goals. The company is ramping up production of its Model 3 and working to deliver its first quarterly profit.
Earlier this week, a defamation suit was filed against Musk by a British diver whom the 47-year-old entrepreneur had called a pedophile.
Tesla’s shares fell 3.7 percent to $283.89 per share in New York trading on Tuesday.
