The Justice Department has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into Tesla


Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not having a great week.
Shortly after being hit with a lawsuit by the Thai cave diver who he accused of being a pedophile, Musk's company is now facing a Justice Department investigation, Bloomberg reports. This is over Musk's now infamous tweet from August in which he said that he was "considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." The New York Times subsequently reported that despite what Musk said, he actually had not secured funding and that his tweet was more of a "flip remark."
That remark resulted in Tesla receiving a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had already been investigating the company over concerns that Musk had misled investors, per the Times. Musk announced at the end of August that Tesla would stay public after all.
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CNBC reports that immediately following Bloomberg's report of the Justice Department probe Tuesday, Tesla stock dropped, just as it did after Musk conducted a bizarre earnings call in May, got subpoenaed by the SEC in August, and smoked pot with Joe Rogan in September.
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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