Bloomberg — A plan by Tesla Inc. (TSLA) to purchase hard-to-find building materials is under investigation by U.S. prosecutors, who are investigating whether the proper use of company funds was made for the project.
In recent weeks, the New York district attorney’s office has issued subpoenas to several current and former employees of the electric vehicle maker seeking information related to the materials, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation. The information requests center on correspondence with Omead Afshar, a key aide to Elon Musk and the person at the center of an internal Tesla investigation into the matter, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private.
Prosecutors are reviewing a 2022 construction materials purchase order that was identified as suspicious by company officials. The order, for a special type of glass, was notified to Tesla’s finance and internal audit groups early last year.
Musk and Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York prosecutor’s office declined to comment.
Afshar could not be reached for comment. Bloomberg later reported that Afshar took a position at SpaceX, also owned by Musk.
Information requests from the US Attorney’s Office do not necessarily imply the opening of criminal or civil proceedings, as law enforcement often open investigations that do not lead to prosecution.
The Wall Street Journal, which previously reported on the investigation, said the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was also looking into the matter. The SEC declined to comment.
Some of the people who received subpoenas are due to appear in court in New York next month.
According to one of the sources, correspondence has been requested from and to Musk, although he assured that he was not directly involved in the acquisition order.
Prosecutors were also seeking correspondence related to Soufiane Halily, Tesla’s former director of factory engineering, construction and program management at the Austin, Texas, plant, according to one of the people.
Read more at Bloomberg.com
2023-08-31 01:37:21
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