Tesla Confirms It Is Under Probe By US Justice Department

San Francisco: Electric car maker Tesla has confirmed that it is under probe by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) over its Chairman and CEO Elon Musk’s announcement of taking the company private. According to a report in NPR late on Tuesday, Tesla said, “it was complying with a Justice Department request for documents”.

“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 was quoted as saying. “The matter should be quickly resolved as they review the information they have received,” the spokesperson added.

It’s not clear what the Justice Department is investigating, said the report. Tesla is also under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. On August 7, Musk surprised the investment world with a Twitter announcement that he was considering taking Tesla private and that the funds needed to do so were “secured”.

Musk’s tweet caused a financial firestorm with Tesla shares soaring like never before and Nasdaq had to intervene to halt trading. Later, Musk took a U-turn, saying his investors were extremely important to him. “Given the feedback I’ve received, it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company,” Musk wrote in a blog post. “Although the majority of shareholders I spoke to said they would remain with Tesla if we went private, the sentiment, in a nutshell, was ‘please don’t do this’,” he added. (IANS)