After Musk’s bold call that Tesla shorts have about three weeks to make good on their bets, Martin Tripp ( “Tripp”), the rogue employee, tripped the bulls by indulging in what Tesla calls sabotage, theft of intellectual property and a campaign of disinformation against the Company. To illustrate that Tesla takes its negative view of Tripp very seriously, the Company filed a lawsuit in Nevada, alleging

1. Tripp hacked Tesla’s manufacturing operating system to transfer several gigabytes of Tesla data to outside entities.
2.  Tripp wrote computer code to periodically export Tesla’s data off its network into the hands of third parties.
3. Tripp made false claims to media about the information he stole. We are not going to opine into the merits of these allegations. To us, it appears that these are distractions and none of them seems to be substantive unless it is a preemptive attempt on Tesla’s part to quell a brewing rebellion within the ranks and to put others outside on notice. If Mr Tripp were a mole placed into the organisation by short-sellers, this would take the battle to whole new level.

Either way, Musk needs to deliver 5,000 cars/week by July 15, 2018.