The war of nerves and accusations waged this year between former Tesla employee Martin Tripp and the electric car maker is intensifying in court, with new findings showing that Elon Musk’s company is seeking no less than 167 million in damages from Tripp.
Tesla has claimed ever since Tripp began revealing inside information about the inner workings of the company that the man is a saboteur. The battle between the entity and the human peaked in August when Tripp published on Twitter a series of photos, screenshots, emails, and tables claiming they are evidence of Tesla’s wrongdoings.
The carmaker was accused at the time of improperly storing “scrap/waste,” lying that it deposits these materials in “climate controlled warehouses,” and even accounting fraud.
Tesla denied the charges made against it, saying “these claims are false, and Mr. Tripp does not even have personal knowledge about the safety claims that he is making.” The company was referring to another allegation, one which said that Tesla has been installing flawed or damaged batteries in a number of Model 3 vehicles sold this year.
According to CNBC, Tesla sued its former employee even prior to him revealing the latest info, in June, accusing the man of illegally exporting company data and making false claims. The source, citing an interim report dated two weeks ago, says Tesla is asking $167 million in damages from Tripp.
As per Tripp’s attorneys, that amount represents “supposed dips in Tesla's stock price by virtue of the information Mr. Tripp provided to the press last summer."
According to the source, Tripp is representing himself in this lawsuit which is taking place in Nevada. Since August, he has disappeared from public view and even from the Internet. For instance, when trying to access Tripp’s Twitter account, we found that it has been deleted.
The carmaker was accused at the time of improperly storing “scrap/waste,” lying that it deposits these materials in “climate controlled warehouses,” and even accounting fraud.
Tesla denied the charges made against it, saying “these claims are false, and Mr. Tripp does not even have personal knowledge about the safety claims that he is making.” The company was referring to another allegation, one which said that Tesla has been installing flawed or damaged batteries in a number of Model 3 vehicles sold this year.
According to CNBC, Tesla sued its former employee even prior to him revealing the latest info, in June, accusing the man of illegally exporting company data and making false claims. The source, citing an interim report dated two weeks ago, says Tesla is asking $167 million in damages from Tripp.
As per Tripp’s attorneys, that amount represents “supposed dips in Tesla's stock price by virtue of the information Mr. Tripp provided to the press last summer."
According to the source, Tripp is representing himself in this lawsuit which is taking place in Nevada. Since August, he has disappeared from public view and even from the Internet. For instance, when trying to access Tripp’s Twitter account, we found that it has been deleted.