Elon Musk's Infamous 'Funding Secured' Tweet Draws Justice Department Investigation

Elon Musk’s now-notorious tweet on taking Tesla private has landed the electric car company in the crosshairs of the U.S. Justice Department — sending Tesla’s stock price downward in the process on Tuesday.

The DOJ has opened an investigation into Musk’s tweet last month he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at a healthy premium of $420 a share, a Tesla spokesperson told TheWrap. The message — an unusual one from a high-profile executive, albeit not necessarily from Musk — halted trading of Tesla shares on the Nasdaq exchange on Aug. 7. When trading resumed, Tesla had spiked 11 percent to $380 per share.

Musk later walked back his comments, announcing on Aug. 24 Tesla would remain a publicly-trade company.

Also Read: Elon Musk Sued for Defamation by British Diver in Thai Cave Rescue

“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,” a Tesla spokesperson told TheWrap. “We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process. We respect the DOJ’s desire to get information about this and believe that the matter should be quickly resolved as they review the information they have received.”

Despite the initial boost, Tesla’s stock has been battered in the last month, dropping to $260 a share at one point after Musk took a puff of marijuana on Joe Rogan’s podcast. A recent climb to $302 a share took a hit on Tuesday after Bloomberg’s report, with Tesla falling about 5 percent to $284 a share.

It’s been a rough month for Tesla shareholders (via Google)

Also Read: Elon Musk Trades Jabs With 'Holier-Than-Thou' Big Media: 'You Lost Your Credibility a Long Time Ago'

Even before the DOJ’s investigation, Tesla was under the regulatory microscope, with the Security and Exchange Commission “ramping up” its own look at Musk’s tweet last month.

Bloomberg was first to report about the DOJ investigation on Tuesday.

7 Rad Projects Elon Musk Has Worked On (Photos)

Elon Musk has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley innovation for two decades. The South Africa-born entrepreneur has been linked to a number of high-profile, intriguing ventures... so let's take a look.
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Pay Pal

Musk made his initial fortune thanks to PayPal, which he sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. He made a cool $165 million off the deal.
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Tesla Motors

Instead of buying an island and living the high life after the PayPal sell, Musk went to work on getting the world off its dependency on oil. He founded Tesla Motors (now Tesla Inc.) in 2003, taking over an old Toyota-General Motors manufacturing plant in the Bay Area. The slick electric cars can travel 250 miles without a charge and sell for upwards of $100,000. Its "mass" car, the Model 3, is due out in 2018.
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Space X

Perhaps the project most important to Musk is SpaceX. Founded in 2002, the rocket company has worked with NASA on several launches. SpaceX made history when it developed "recycled" rockets that are able to be launched, landed and reused. Even more ambitious, Musk wants to send manned missions to Mars within the next decade... and colonize the red planet.
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Hyperloop

Musk frequently travels back and forth between NorCal and SoCal, and he wants to do it quickly. Enter Hyperloop, where passengers will be put in pods and shot through tubes connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles at speeds of up to 760 miles per hour. Musk sketched the concept in 2013, and it's now being pursued by a group in L.A. full-time.
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Neuralink

Musk is also big on artificial intelligence and hopes to find a way to directly connect humans to machines. That's where his Neuralink comes in. Co-founded by Musk in 2016, the company aims to integrate our minds with AI advancements via chip implants.
Via @nbashaw on Twitter
The Boring Company

The Boring Company aims to alleviate traffic by building an underground network of tunnels. Cars would be able to latch on to giant sleds and zip through tunnels at 125 mph or passengers can take futuristic glass buses if they want.
The Boring Company
SolarCity

Founded by Musk's cousins in 2006, SolarCity is the second-largest provider of solar panels in the USA. Musk owned 22 percent of its shares when Tesla bought-out the company for more than $2.5 billion in 2016.
Tesla Inc.

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The real-life Tony Stark is the poster boy for Silicon Valley entrepreneurship

Elon Musk has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley innovation for two decades. The South Africa-born entrepreneur has been linked to a number of high-profile, intriguing ventures... so let's take a look.

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