7 ms·

It would be interesting to know if this employee was also shorting Tesla stock at the same time he was leaking these allegations.

Cshelton 8y ago
Most likely not directly. It is possible though that he was wired a certain amount of money from a off shore account tied to a fund, practically untraceable, or paid in crypto. Part of that payment though probably includes something like, if caught, you have to give a made up reason for doing it, or otherwise your family won't get the money... or worse things may happen to your family. This kind of stuff is real and does happen. With the kind of money at play here, people will do anything. It's the old mafia style in the modern era.
- telchar 8y ago
  You're being down-voted but it would be foolish to ignore the possibility you bring up, especially when we consider that Tesla has competitors based in countries where the rule of law is weaker than it is in the US. Certainly if he's going to break the law and exfiltrate data it would be a small hurdle to try to profit on top of that.
  - s73v3r_ 8y ago
    Without evidence, this is just another conspiracy theory.
compcoffee 8y ago
>It would be interesting to know if this employee was also shorting Tesla stock at the same time he was leaking these allegations. I'm skeptical that some individual blue-collar worker would risk his financial well-being and possibly freedom to make a few thousand dollars from possibly causing financial harm to Tesla and causing the stock to drop some. Seems like a stretch to me. If the suit is as alleged (passing false information to journalists) he's an attention seeking low-life. What is with the obsession with "shorts"? I've never seen so much over-reaction to short selling in my life.
- mlindner 8y ago
  Was he blue-collar? The stuff he performed sounds more like white-collar engineer.
- durkie 8y ago
  Tesla is the stock with the highest amount of short interest at the moment.
  - vkou 8y ago
    That's because unlike a zero-revenue startup, whose potential revenue once they start monetization may be trillions of dollars, the potential revenue trajectory of Tesla is somewhat bounded. Yet, their stock is valued like one of those startups.
    - Diederich 8y ago
      > somewhat bounded Can you expand on that? In theory, TSLA could become the next Toyota or GM. I guess that technically fits under 'somewhat'.
      - vkou 8y ago
        TSLA's market cap is currently > GM. GM currently makes more cars in a week, then TSLA does in a year. And it does so on positive margins. It's certainly possible for TSLA to get to that point, but it is anything but a sure thing. Why anyone would be surprised that it is one of the most shorted stocks in the world is beyond me. If they fail to grow to GM's size, the shorts will be justified. To put it in tech terms, it's valuing Mozilla > Apple, because Mozilla sold a million Firefox OS phones. Except that in this imaginary world, Mozilla doesn't even ship a web browser, and keeps having to ask its landlord for an extension on the rent payment due date. Obviously, Firefox OS will sweep the world by storm! Who doesn't like freedom? Surely, the users will switch en masse, and leave the old dinosaurs like Apple and Google broke.
        8y ago
ASinclair 8y ago
That's blatant insider trading. He'd have to have done it with someone else's help.

Cshelton 8y ago

Most likely not directly. It is possible though that he was wired a certain amount of money from a off shore account tied to a fund, practically untraceable, or paid in crypto. Part of that payment though probably includes something like, if caught, you have to give a made up reason for doing it, or otherwise your family won't get the money... or worse things may happen to your family. This kind of stuff is real and does happen. With the kind of money at play here, people will do anything. It's the old mafia style in the modern era.

telchar 8y ago
You're being down-voted but it would be foolish to ignore the possibility you bring up, especially when we consider that Tesla has competitors based in countries where the rule of law is weaker than it is in the US. Certainly if he's going to break the law and exfiltrate data it would be a small hurdle to try to profit on top of that.
- s73v3r_ 8y ago
  Without evidence, this is just another conspiracy theory.

compcoffee 8y ago

>It would be interesting to know if this employee was also shorting Tesla stock at the same time he was leaking these allegations. I'm skeptical that some individual blue-collar worker would risk his financial well-being and possibly freedom to make a few thousand dollars from possibly causing financial harm to Tesla and causing the stock to drop some. Seems like a stretch to me. If the suit is as alleged (passing false information to journalists) he's an attention seeking low-life. What is with the obsession with "shorts"? I've never seen so much over-reaction to short selling in my life.

mlindner 8y ago
Was he blue-collar? The stuff he performed sounds more like white-collar engineer.
durkie 8y ago
Tesla is the stock with the highest amount of short interest at the moment.
- vkou 8y ago
  That's because unlike a zero-revenue startup, whose potential revenue once they start monetization may be trillions of dollars, the potential revenue trajectory of Tesla is somewhat bounded. Yet, their stock is valued like one of those startups.
  - Diederich 8y ago
    > somewhat bounded Can you expand on that? In theory, TSLA could become the next Toyota or GM. I guess that technically fits under 'somewhat'.
    - vkou 8y ago
      TSLA's market cap is currently > GM. GM currently makes more cars in a week, then TSLA does in a year. And it does so on positive margins. It's certainly possible for TSLA to get to that point, but it is anything but a sure thing. Why anyone would be surprised that it is one of the most shorted stocks in the world is beyond me. If they fail to grow to GM's size, the shorts will be justified. To put it in tech terms, it's valuing Mozilla > Apple, because Mozilla sold a million Firefox OS phones. Except that in this imaginary world, Mozilla doesn't even ship a web browser, and keeps having to ask its landlord for an extension on the rent payment due date. Obviously, Firefox OS will sweep the world by storm! Who doesn't like freedom? Surely, the users will switch en masse, and leave the old dinosaurs like Apple and Google broke.
      - 8y ago

ASinclair 8y ago

That's blatant insider trading. He'd have to have done it with someone else's help.