Another Tesla Ex-Employee Sent A Whistleblower Tip To The SEC

A former Tesla employee has reportedly sent a whistleblower tip to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission).

Sean Gouthro, Tesla’s former global security lead, was the one behind the whistleblower tip which was filed on Jan 24. According to Meissner Associates, Gouthro’s tip is aligned with the tip from Karl Hansen, also a Tesla’s ex-employee.

Whistleblower tip can result in fines and punishments for companies that are found guilty of a securities law violation.

In his tip, Hansen claimed that Tesla didn’t reveal to shareholders any information about the unauthorized surveillance, the theft of raw materials and the hacking of the company’s computers and cellphones.

The tip also stated that Tesla did not inform federal authorities when it received Hansen’s information about drug trafficking activities at Gigafactory located in Sparks, Nevada.

At that time, Elon Musk responded to Hansen’s claim with a Twitter direct message.

Also at that time, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the SEC declined to comment.

The tip from Gouthro also claims that Tesla’s 2018 take-private proposal was talked about and skeptically viewed by a great deal of Tesla employees before Musk discussed it on Twitter in August.

According to Meissner Associates, Gouthro’s tip claims, “Many were suspect of the purported deal's legitimacy.”

The whole Tesla’s go-private led to the SEC’s lawsuit which accused Musk of making “false and misleading statements" about the interest that investors had about the deal. The lawsuit ended with a settlement requiring Musk to leave his position as the chairman of the company’s board of directors in three years as well as paying a fine of $20 million. Tesla was also asked to monitor all of Musk’s communications that are relevant to shareholders.

A representative of Tesla denied both of Hansen and Gouthro’s claims.

The representative said:

The SEC refused to give any comments.

This is not the first time a former Tesla employee filed a whistleblower tip to the SEC. Gouthro is the third one to do so. Meissner Associates represent for all three cases. The first one to file a tip was Martin Trip who worked as Tesla’s former technician at the company’s Gigafacoty. The tip accused Tesla of using batteries having puncture holes in customers’ vehicles. The claim has been denied by Tesla.