Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On August 31, Beijing time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Elon Musk) was suspected of embezzling company funds to build a glass house for himself. The U.S. Attorney, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is now involved in investigating Tesla's plan to purchase hard-to-get glass materials to find out whether the project used the company's funds properly.

Musk's story also starts with a 2022 purchase order for construction materials from Tesla, which involves multimillion-dollar specialty glass, known within Tesla as the "Project 42" project.

Omid Omead Afshar, Mr Musk's key deputy and head of the Tesla plant, asked for the purchase order to be created and told employees it was for a secret project.

However, Tesla managers identified the order as suspicious and marked it to Tesla's financial and internal audit team earlier last year.

The media hypothesized that according to foreign media reports, this kind of glass may be used by Musk to build his own house near the Texas factory. The design concept of the house includes a glass cube, reminiscent of the Apple Fifth Avenue store. It seems to belong to personal space because it includes bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens. Tesla board of directors worried that Musk used his power for personal gain and misappropriated the company's funds, so he launched an internal investigation, the main object of which is Afshal.

At present, it is this order that US prosecutors are reviewing. In recent weeks, the US prosecutor's office in New York has issued subpoenas to several current and former employees of Tesla for information related to the building materials, focusing on their communications with Afshar, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of those who received the subpoena were also asked to testify in a New York court next month.

Mr Musk was not directly involved in the purchase order, according to people familiar with the matter. However, US prosecutors also asked the employees to provide communications between them and Mr Musk. In addition, prosecutors are seeking communications related to Sufian Hariri (Soufiane Halily), who was previously in charge of plant engineering, construction and project management at the Teslad plant. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York wants information about Musk's personal benefits from the project, the amount of money Tesla spent on the project and what the project is for.

It should be noted that the fact that United States prosecutors require relevant persons to provide information does not necessarily mean that they will file criminal or civil proceedings, as law enforcement agencies usually conduct investigations, but do not necessarily take action.

In addition to US prosecutors, SEC also launched a civil investigation into "Project 42" and asked Tesla to provide similar information. The investigation by US prosecutors and the SEC is still at an early stage and may not lead to formal charges.

Mr Musk and Tesla had no comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York and SEC declined to comment.

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