SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla confirmed Tuesday that US Justice Department officials were looking into possible criminal aspects of a seemingly spontaneous, and later aborted, announcement by chief executive Elon Musk on taking the electric automaker private.
Shares skidded 3.6 percent to $284.26 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq exchange as word spread of a criminal investigation triggered by Musk's Twitter comments.
Tesla said it was confident the matter would be quickly resolved with the Justice Department.
"Last month, following Elon's announcement that he was considering taking the company private, Tesla received a voluntary request for documents from the DOJ and has been cooperative in responding to it," the California-based company said in response to an AFP inquiry.
"We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process."
A lawsuit filed earlier this month accuses Musk of trying to "burn" short-sellers by falsely tweeting that funding had been secured to take the electric car maker private.
Musk surprised markets on August 7 by announcing on Twitter he wanted to take Tesla private at $420 a share, causing the stock price to jump. Short-sellers bet on share prices dropping.
Normally such a major announcement -- taking a huge company private -- would be explained in detail beforehand to regulators.
Musk has backed off talk of going private, saying the company will continue to be publicly traded.
US market regulators are also scrutinizing what happened.
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