Tesla faces FBI criminal probe – The Wall Street Journal
DUBLIN – Last week was a real roller-coaster for Tesla. The company reported an excellent quarter, with strong revenue growth, record profits, and improved cash flows. But just as it looked like CEO Elon Musk could laugh off his critics, it emerged that Tesla faces a criminal probe into whether it knowingly misled investors with its production figures and forecasts. The company likes to sail close to the wind. It has previously had trouble with non-standard accounting practices that regulators found to be misleading and the company recently paid the SEC $40 million to settle accusations of fraudulent communication. What most investors (and regulators) would like to see is a mature Tesla that produces reliable estimates and financial figure using approved accounting methods, in order to give the market fair, accurate, and comparable data about its financial status. This would help the company shake of the criticism of its detractors, who point to issues like non-standard accounting and misleading projections of evidence that Tesla is a house of cards. Musk has repeatedly stated that Tesla is a serious company that is in the auto industry for the long haul. It should start reporting like one.  – Felicity Duncan
By Dana Cimilluca, Susan Pulliam and Aruna Viswanatha
(The Wall Street Journal) Tesla Inc.,with a fresh civil fraud settlement now behind it, faces a new legal problem: a deepening criminal investigation.
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