Tesla Seeks $167 Million in Damages from Whistleblower Employee It Accused of ‘Sabotage’

Elon Musk’s Tesla is reportedly seeking $167 million in damages from former employee and whistleblower Martin Tripp, which it accused of attempting to sabotage the company.

CNBC reports that Tesla is seeking $167 million in a lawsuit against former employee Martin Tripp who worked as a process engineer at the company. Tesla is alleging that Tripp illegally exported company data and made a number of false claims to reporters about the car manufacturer. Tripp previously made allegations about poor manufacturing practices at Tesla’s battery plant in Reno, Nevada and claimed that damaged battery modules were installed in Model 3 vehicles which could prove dangerous to drivers.

Legal filings show that Tripp’s lawyers at the firm Tiffany & Bosco plan to depose Tesla CEO Elon Musk as well as more than ten individuals involved with Tesla, but so far Tesla has refused to make Musk available for deposition and is attempting to limit the number of people deposed in the lawsuit. In a report, Tripp’s lawyers wrote: “Tesla has objected to Mr. Tripp’s desire to take more than ten depositions…In this case, where Mr. Tripp is being sued for more than $167,000,000 and has asserted counterclaims against Tesla, more than ten depositions is certainly reasonable and appropriate.”

In an e-mail to CNBC, Tripp’s attorney Robert D. Mitchell stated: “The purported damage amount claimed by Tesla relates to supposed dips in Tesla’s stock price by virtue of the information Mr. Tripp provided to the press last summer.” He further claimed that Tesla’s damages claim is “absurd.”

In July, Tripp filed a formal whistleblower complaint with the SEC alleging that Tesla made “material omissions and misstatements” to their investors in relation to their manufacturing processes and disposal of scrap at the company’s Gigafactory.  Tripp was previously represented by the law firm Meissner Associates in this complaint but reports claim that he is now representing himself.

Tripp was interviewed by multiple publications in June in an effort to explain his role in this debacle with Tesla. “I’m a scapegoat because I provided information that is absolutely true,” Tripp told the Guardian. “This is obscene … It feels like I have no rights as a whistleblower… They’re trying to do everything they can to silence me and trying to set an example so that no one else will talk to the press.”

In an interview with the Washington Post, Tripp denied claims that he hacked Tesla computers saying: “I’m not that smart, I don’t know how to code. I tried to teach myself to code and I don’t have the patience.” He also claimed that Tesla’s assertion that he was disgruntled after being passed over for a promotion, Tripp said: “That’s their generic excuse, I could literally care less.”

Tripp claimed that he leaked Tesla information to a reporter for Business Insider as he felt his concerns were being ignored at the company: “I kept bringing this up to management, supervisors, anyone who would listen,” he said. “Everyone just said, ‘Yeah, whatever.’” He continued, “When it’s world impactful, when you’re lying to the world and investors about the cars you’re producing and how sustainable you are, when you’re saying one thing and doing another, the righteous thing is for the world to know.”

Tripp also exchanged emails with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the exchange was recently published in full and can be read below:

Tripp: “Don’t worry, you have what’s coming to you for the lies you have told to the public and investors.”

Musk: “Threatening me only makes it worse for you”

Tripp: “I never made a threat. I simply told you that you have what’s coming. Thank you for this gift!!!!”

Musk: “You should ashamed of yourself for framing other people. You’re a horrible human being.”

Tripp: “I NEVER ‘framed’ anyone else or even insinuated anyone else as being involved in my production of documents of your MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF WASTE, Safety concerns, lying to investors/the WORLD. Putting cars on the road with safety issues is being a horrible human being!”

Musk: “There are literally injuries[sic] with Model 3. It is by far the safest car in the world for any midsize vehicle. And of course a company with billions of dollars in product is going to have millions of dollars in scrap. This is not news. However, betraying your word of honor, breaking the deal you had when Tesla gave you a job and framing your colleagues are wrong and some come with legal penalties. So it goes. Be well.

Musk commented on the email exchange, calling it “unwise” on his part and further stated: “He initiated the email exchange this morning at 8.57am. I certainly would not have initiated contact, nor would I even know his personal email address, and it was probably unwise for me to have responded.”