
Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower - ProAm
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-03-13/when-elon-musk-tried-to-destroy-tesla-whistleblower-martin-tripp
======
rchaud
"Later that day, Tripp heard from the sheriff’s department in Storey County,
Nev. Tesla’s security department had passed a tip to police. An anonymous
caller had contacted the company to say Tripp was planning a mass shooting at
the Gigafactory."

Think of how this could have played out under different circumstances. We've
already had numerous "swatting" incidents where innocent bystanders were hurt
or killed.

The more I see Musk doing stupid pseudo-celebrity stuff like appearing on a
kiddy Youtube channel to "review memes", the more I think he's eventually
going to go the swatting route one day. He's extremely thin-skinned and
responds on Twitter to even the slightest perceived slight.

~~~
joekrill
I don't understand how we're jumping to the conclusion that Musk is
responsible for this. No one seems to be claiming the "anonymous call" was
made up, as far as I can tell. For all we know Tripp made the call himself to
make himself look like more a victim. It's no less plausible than suggesting
Musk made the call himself, or had someone make it on his behalf.

~~~
tedivm
The sheriff debunked it, and then Tesla tried to get the sheriff to hype up
the event. The sheriff declined, and then Tesla (according to the sheriff)
leaked it to the press.

[https://twitter.com/willCIR/status/1105906726782435328](https://twitter.com/willCIR/status/1105906726782435328)

~~~
crb002
In Iowa they would have faced criminal blacklisting charges under Iowa Code
730.

------
zmarty
Bloomberg conveniently left out the reason why "Tripp has since changed
lawyers". It's because he published on Twitter a trove of confidential
internal Tesla documents. Once he did that his lawyer knew they had no case
anymore. Tripp only deleted the documents after his lawyer was able to get in
touch with him. This showed that he did in fact access internal Tesla systems
and he did in fact exfiltrate this information. But somehow Bloomberg paints
Tesla in a negative light, as they always do.

This is what's left of the fallout:

"B advised that the Tweets by Mr. Tripp yesterday were issued by him on his
own accord. Mr. Tripp has clearly been impacted emotionally by what $TSLA has
done to him.He is very concerned about being gagged & wants to protect the
public, more than his own personal interest. ++"

[https://twitter.com/StuartMeissner/status/103013836984050073...](https://twitter.com/StuartMeissner/status/1030138369840500736)

"It is accurate that we no longer rep M.Tripp in any matter.Nor do we have a
need for any connection whatsoever with his attys in his Nev civil
action.There wont be further comment on this.We still rep K.Hansen with re to
his SEC submission & do have confidence in his submission"

[https://twitter.com/StuartMeissner/status/107295281670310297...](https://twitter.com/StuartMeissner/status/1072952816703102976)

"Also Mr. Tripp's Twitter account WAS NOT suspended/removed by twitter this
AM. He himself voluntarily terminated his twitter account on advice of myself,
so that there will not b any more confusion re if he has published anything or
not. There is enough confusion re $TSLA already"

[https://twitter.com/StuartMeissner/status/103013943327684608...](https://twitter.com/StuartMeissner/status/1030139433276846081)

~~~
rayiner
> Bloomberg conveniently left out the reason why "Tripp has since changed
> lawyers". It's because he published on Twitter a trove of confidential
> internal Tesla documents. Once he did that his lawyer knew they had no case
> anymore. Tripp only deleted the documents after his lawyer was able to get
> in touch with him. This showed that he did in fact access internal Tesla
> systems and he did in fact exfiltrate this information. But somehow
> Bloomberg paints Tesla in a negative light, as they always do.

Whistleblower complaints are for obvious reasons typically based on
exfiltrated documents. There may be liability against the whistleblower for
that, but generally that does not impair the merits of the case against the
company (except to the extent the company can use threats of legal action over
the documents to keep the whistleblower quiet). And in some cases there are
specific legal safeguards for whistleblowers whose complaints are based on
confidential documents, especially in the case of public companies:
[https://www.zuckermanlaw.com/court-rules-whistleblowers-
can-...](https://www.zuckermanlaw.com/court-rules-whistleblowers-can-use-
confidential-company-documents-expose-fraud/)

~~~
SilasX
Agreed, and these kinds of criticisms always get me eye-rolling. "On the one
hand, Megacorp committed <atrocious environment/safety violations>. But on the
other hand, Whistleblower stole internal documents proving them. So, you have
to accept, there's wrongdoing on _both_ sides."

~~~
hitekker
A succinct description of false equivalence. Quite nice.

------
antiviral
This should be getting alot more attention. Even if Musk gets away with these
things right now, this article raises awareness of what’s truly going on,
raising the likelihood that future victims will be much more believable,
similar to the way the dam eventually burst with Uber.

~~~
close04
He gets away because people's attention span is short and they trust good PR
and things that reinforce their opinions. So they will take the undeniably
good stuff (SpaceX + Tesla successes), then assume everything else that's
tacked onto them is also real, any other claim Musk makes on Twitter are real,
and the bad press is just enemies and haters.

Also his position and money make him more or less legally untouchable even if
his image would be permanently tarnished. This goes for anyone in his position
whether they have his good PR or not. Money is indeed a superpower. Just ask
Batman.

Edit. Funny how all my comments received the same number of downvotes at
almost the same time.

~~~
Consultant32452
I have a different position, which is that I actively tolerate quite a lot of
crappy behavior from great minds doing great things. Sure, when someone breaks
the law, do whatever is normal when a person breaks that law. If he violated
SEC regulations, okay the SEC will do whatever the SEC does. But I don't
really care on an emotional level if some investors lost some money. And
there's almost no manner of wrong-think or Twitter bullying or any other
obnoxious but not illegal behavior that would upset me at all.

Have you ever noticed how many of the greatest actors/actresses are a bit on
the crazy side? Genius and "craziness" tend to go hand in hand. I believe
we'll all be better off if we tolerate quite a bit of craziness from geniuses.
Better art, better science, better world.

~~~
AndrewBissell
Elon Musk is really not a genius or a great mind. Both his companies appear to
need large amounts of government mandates & subsidies and constant injections
of capital to stay afloat. Teslas are neat cars but their environmental
benefits are questionable and far more expensive than other methods of carbon
abatement. Landing rockets is cool but the jury is out on whether it's
financially better than the disposable ones used by the rest of the industry.

~~~
buran77
Hi did however manage to push his people towards achieving what they did so
far with Tesla and Space X. I guess that's also a big thing? Not genius but
definitely something, although I'm sure everything came at a huge cost for the
people involved. You just have to ask yourself if the result justifies it.

------
samirillian
As a person who really wanted Musk to be an exception to the rule of shitty
billionaires, this story really is the last nail in the coffin. Way too much
moral casuistry you'd have to go through to justify or cast doubt on all of
these insane stories.

~~~
burtonator
I wonder if the issue is that most people are just shitty but society acts as
a check. When you're above societies rules you can act and do anything you
want.

~~~
loa-in-backup
That reminds me of one point: I highly respect that Elon Musk doesn't wall
himself off from the mind of the internet (aka the populace). It's something
you won't see other CEOs do, unless it's a PR stunt meant to achieve some
positive PR statistics.

~~~
jsight
Yeah, I think a lot of people here are just naive to how much dirty dealing
goes on in the world. This stuff is just more public.

Musk was never some wonderful person that should have been looked up to for
his own merit. But I generally don't pick cars based on how much we like or
dislike their CEO, and I suspect that most others don't either.

------
protomyth
_To Antinoro, one of the strangest parts of the situation was that after he
told the company the threat was false, it asked him to put out a press release
hyping it. He declined, but Tesla publicized the incident anyway._

 _Antinoro says he’s told his force not to bother investigating crimes at the
Gigafactory unless Tesla starts cooperating. Big business, he’s decided, is
its own strange world. “Standard Oil was probably as weird as Elon Musk,” he
says._

Yep, this is every small town sheriff dealing with someone they believe to be
a crackpot. One shouldn't play games with law enforcement.

~~~
shkkmo
Umm... shouldn't the sheriff be fired for this? Investigating crimes is his
job, corporate recalcitrance is not an excuse for not trying to protect that
corporation's employees.

~~~
protomyth
Like a lot of things, its a matter of resource allocation. Asking a sheriff to
do a press release that's a lie lessens the credibility of the source. Having
a company ask you to use your resources to "investigating crimes at the
Gigafactory" without Tesla's honest cooperation is a waste of those resources
and could get someone else killed while his people chase their tails. It is an
extremely reasonable judgement call on the sheriff's part, and he should be
commended for not bowing to the pressure of a big company over his office's
integrity and the rest of the citizens he is responsible for.

~~~
shkkmo
Not prioritizing the investigation of complaints filed by Tesla when they
refuse to cooperate and not issuing press releases on command is commendable.

Publicly announcing that no crimes at the Gigafactory will be investigated
seems like dereliction of duty and abandoning the tax paying workers of Tesla
to a potentially unsafe environment.

~~~
protomyth
The key part of the phrase is "unless Tesla starts cooperating". I'm sure
Tesla will actually cooperate if there is an actual danger as opposed to
another attempt to get the Sheriff's office to lie for them. The Sheriff is
not doing anything wrong, and Tesla should have learned the whole cry wolf
thing long ago.

~~~
shkkmo
Again, saying they won't investigate crimes reported by Tesla is very
different from saying they will investigate no crimes at the Gigafactory.

You seem to think that I am saying something I am not.

------
SpicyLemonZest
I don’t understand what the story here is supposed to be. By Tripp’s own
account, he did gather private information, the information did not itself
prove wrongdoing, and he did leak it to the press because he wanted to make
Tesla look bad.

~~~
drugme
_I don’t understand what the story here is supposed to be._

Did you catch the parts about Tesla harassing Tripp in a whole bunch of
outlandish and basically thuggish ways in response -- ranging from a bogus
$167m lawsuit up to apparently lying to the local police about him planning a
mass shooting?

That's what the story was about.

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
The article certainly makes those claims. But Bloomberg doesn’t seem to have
any evidence of those things, beyond Tripp’s raw assertion that his friends
didn’t make the call and he didn’t do what the lawsuit says. With no
corroboration, why should we believe him over Tesla at this point?

~~~
AndrewBissell
> Why should we believe him over Tesla at this point?

"Funding secured."

Also, your assertion that there is no corroboration is wrong, the new
whistleblower Sean Gouthro is corroborating Tripp's claims. This behavior is
also well in line with Elon Musk's established pattern of paranoid behavior in
surveiling employees.

~~~
loceng
Funding in Elon's mind could have been secured - perhaps not to what SEC's
requirements of what that meant however; if I had $100B to invest in taking
Tesla private, I'd certainly give it to Musk - Saudi Arabia is throwing around
huge amounts as well, which I believe was his believed source of funding.

~~~
u10
What Elon believes the requirements are and what the legal requirements are
two different things.

Not to mention that Tesla failed to file an 8k form in a timely manner, and
when it was finally filed it clearly showed that funding had not been
'secured' under any reasonable definition.

~~~
AndrewBissell
The idea Elon Musk "believed in his mind" that funding was secured is pure
sophistry. He has done hundreds of fundraising rounds in his life and knows
the various stages involved in intimate detail.

He was obsessed at the time with squeezing shorts and probably thought he
could touch off a VW-style spike in the stock. Ironically, by capping the
upside at $420, he presented shorts with one of the best risk-reward profiles
in the stock's history, and that days intraday high has never been seen since.

~~~
loceng
So let's do an exercise. You have someone you trust someone's word, they tell
you they're going to pick you up at X time and Y location. Do you trust them,
why do you trust them? So now, why can't this same scenario exist for Elon and
someone, say Saudi money, for securing funding - someone saying they will give
you all the money he needs to take Tesla private? You're presenting no proof
it was a fallacious statement from him, based on his belief of what funding
secured meant. You're also presenting a very one-sided argument. Elon also yes
"hates" \- so arguably it makes at least equal sense, if not more, that he'd
legitimately want to take Tesla off the stock market.

------
thinkcomp
Tesla, Inc. v. Tripp Nevada District Court, Case No. 3:18-cv-00296-LRH-CBC

[https://www.plainsite.org/dockets/3br5tkwuj/nevada-
district-...](https://www.plainsite.org/dockets/3br5tkwuj/nevada-district-
court/tesla-inc-v-tripp/)

~~~
JdeBP
The fact that this publishes conference telephone numbers, complete with
access code and security code, and that none of these numbers changes over a
period of 6 months, is somewhat worrying.

------
OldFatCactus
Hopefully Musk faces charges for this

~~~
ocdtrekkie
In a world where high-paid Silicon Valley executives can grope women and get
paid tens of millions of dollars in severance payouts for doing so, I wouldn't
exactly bet on any billionaires going to jail any time soon.

I've seen far too many stories where one could reasonably say "this is
definitely obviously a crime, right?" and nothing happens anyways. Money is
the world's cheat code.

~~~
xiphias2
It's money and position together.

Elon is strategically important for the US at this point, putting him to jail
would wipe out billions of dollars of the US stock market, and SpaceX may be
part of the future of US defense.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
I would argue that neither Tesla nor SpaceX will disappear if Elon Musk goes
to jail. In fact, the argument could be made both companies would perform more
reliably without him.

~~~
i_call_solo
Musk is heavily involved in the engineering efforts at Tesla and SpaceX.
Losing him would not be a good thing for these companies despite his public
antics.

~~~
xkjkls
Is he? Musk has no engineering degree, he's never been the CTO of his
companies, and most of his time seems to be spent on Twitter, dealing with
media, and other PR things. I haven't seen any evidence that the engineering
departments at either firm would be worse off without him.

~~~
_Microft
He's CTO at SpaceX.

~~~
coldtea
Which doesn't mean anything really. If you have founded the company and own
it, you can be CTO and delegate all the real engineering / research work.

~~~
marvin
Even Tom Mueller, propulsion engineer & co-founder of SpaceX, publicly
acknowledges that Musk is heavily involved in key engineering decisions. I get
that Musk gets a large amount of hate these days, but at least find something
material to criticize. "He's not even an engineer" isn't just an irrelevant
argument, it's also wrong. (Except in the "certified engineer" sense, which I
don't think anyone is claiming).

~~~
xkjkls
Yeah, but is Tom Mueller, whose boss is Elon Musk, really going to publicly
state anything else?

~~~
marvin
I think he’s retired now, and only participates occasionally in an advisory
role...?

------
rebelwebmaster
Not saying the article is or isn't true, but how credible is Bloomberg as a
news outlet these days after the SuperMicro story?

~~~
drugme
Quite credible actually.

Edit (now that the above post has been edited): I agree that the lack of an
unequivocal follow-up to the SuperMicro story -- that is saying neither "we
admit we screwed up" or "we stand by the main points of our original story" or
even "we need more time to look into this pls" \-- is quite troubling.

Still, you have to look at their broader track record, compare them to other
outlets in their weight class (nearly all of which, like the NYT in
particular, have indulged in many more, and far greater follies). That and the
fact that what they're reporting in this particular case is consistent with
what we know to expect from Tesla/Musk after various other incidents.

~~~
tdhz77
I agree, very credible.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
Without a retraction they have zero credibility.

~~~
drugme
Fine for you, but I'm not a black-or-white person.

I would say their credibility stands at "significantly compromised", which is
damning enough.

------
zaptheimpaler
This should be much bigger than an SEC problem.

Spreading rumours Tripp is homicidal, or secretly surveilling texts & emails
without his knowledge - both alone could be prosecuted as criminal charges.
Instead the absolute worst that will happen to Musk or anyone involved is
being thrown out of Tesla.

The sheriff "says he’s told his force not to bother investigating crimes at
the Gigafactory unless Tesla starts cooperating."

Remember folks, if you wanna be a criminal, start a company first. That way,
your crimes become the companies crimes and your jail time becomes a fine!
Thats the American Way.

------
yingw787
If you haven't seen this Twitter thread, it is a good read. Tune your
credibility factor to maybe 0.6-0.8 before diving in.

[https://twitter.com/atomicthumbs/status/1032939621636661248](https://twitter.com/atomicthumbs/status/1032939621636661248)

------
jaimex2
He is not a whistleblower. Shame on Bloomberg for tainting the word. And he
destryoed himself, any company would have thrown the book at any employee who
did what he did.

He purposely leaked negative and false information of no material consequence
to Linet Lopez, one of the top FUD reporters on Tesla at the time. Look up her
articles over 2014 - 2017. Her full time job at the time was to trash the
Tesla brand.

The "I'm not smart enough to sabotage assembly systems" remark was also proven
false. His github and stackoverflow accounts were found and show his as a
capable coder who would have had no trouble at all modifying the production
systems he sabotaged.

He very quickly deleted both as soon as this came but the posts still exist
today.

His trial is ongoing:

[https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7244147/tesla-inc-v-
tri...](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7244147/tesla-inc-v-tripp/)

I suspect this article will not age well. Either way it will serve its purpose
as a hit piece before Model Y announcement.

~~~
choppaface
In what way is what he leaked “false”? Are the Tesla documents and VINS false?
Isn’t Tesla’s report to the police objectively more false?

Should we really allow Tesla to get away clean after their report to the
police while Jessie Smollett faces felonies?

~~~
jaimex2
Stating Tesla lied about production numbers.

Stating Tesla shipped battery packs with punctured cells.

Stating he does not know how to code to sabotage assembly line.

Stating the waste rate at Gigafactory was abnormally high.

Stating he didnt try to frame a fellow employee.

The case will reveal more I'm sure, these are not hard things to prove.

------
ddebernardy
In other news, the EU just issued a directive aimed at protecting
whistleblowers:

[https://www.dw.com/en/eu-protects-whistleblowers-with-new-
di...](https://www.dw.com/en/eu-protects-whistleblowers-with-new-
directive/a-47865249)

------
cronix
Tesla keeps files of employees "tattoos/identifying marks"?? Is that a real
image from Tesla (first main image)?

~~~
ceejayoz
The caption indicates it's real, and I'd imagine listing key identifying
characteristics is quite standard for a security department's "don't let this
disgruntled employee in" notices.

------
peteradio
Super cool that companies just intercept texts no big deal totally cool, must
have been in the terms I signed.

------
RivieraKid
Elon Musk is a pathological liar who goes full evil against people who dare to
question him.

Remember the British diver Unsworth. Or how tried to trigger a short squeeze
by lying on Twitter multiple times. He called a respected non-profit media
organization an extremist organization" after they did a piece critical of
Tesla.

~~~
lawlessone
in 2016 he shared an article that suggested a rocket explosion was sabotage.
Though he qualified that by saying it isn't true.

~~~
loceng
I read a response of his saying that sabotage wasn't ruled out, when someone
first asked him about the rocket explosion before they had ruled it out. Do
you have a reference/quote of him saying outright he thought it was sabotage?

------
imranq
This article is so one sided that it feels like Bloomberg really has it out
for Musk. There’s no proof that Musk did this, even though I’m open to the
possibility.

------
flippinburgers
There is such a tremendous amount of dislike for Elon in this thread. I just
don't understand. Nobody here holds a candle to his accomplishments.

~~~
netphobee
Your username checks out, at least.

------
vbuwivbiu
I'm going to separate Musk from the other asshole billionairs, for now,
because I truely think there's a higher purpose here that his companies are
helping bring about. I think his heart's in the right place too. Something
happens to people when they become that rich and are surrounded by sycophants.
I wish he had respect for his staff and treated them well, same with Bezos but
Tesla is more useful to the world than Amazon.

~~~
iamdbtoo
"I think his heart's in the right place too."

Trying to ruin someone's life is having your heart in the right place?

~~~
vbuwivbiu
ahem...apart from that...I was referring to the higher-purpose of accelerating
the much-needed transition to electric vehicles - it's kind of obvious that
was my meaning from the context - I'm saying, yes this is shitty, but look at
the bigger picture.

~~~
iamdbtoo
There's absolutely nothing that Elon Musk has done for the electric car market
to excuse this kind of behavior. He could've changed the market just the same
without acting this way.

~~~
vbuwivbiu
ok yes I agree with you

------
koiz
Wait we're trusting bloomberg all of a sudden?

------
mcguire
Is there a lesson here somewhere? Between Musk, Trump, and everything else I
read, it seems like public insanity is a winning strategy.

------
mlindner
Tripp wasn't a whistleblower.

------
DiabloD3
What I don't understand is why Bloomberg is not required to publish that they
have any financial interest in Tesla. Bloomberg seems to only publish negative
news about Tesla, and clearly has a bias, as if they hold or represent someone
that holds a large short position.

The story published by Bloomberg does not actually cite any sources, only what
is already publicly known and what Tripp has personally claimed; and seems to
just run entirely on emotions, not facts. The whistleblower did, indeed, blow
the whistle, and this seems to be one of only two provable and externally
verifiable fact in the entire story (the other one being he once worked there
and was fired from there; even the internal investigation at Tesla over
Tripp's actions, according to that story, just seems to be Tripp's claims to
such).

There is no proof that Tesla invented the shooter story, and it is also at
least as equally possible that someone outside of Tesla saw a chance to throw
a spanner in the works and take advantage of the situation. It is also just as
equally possible that Tripp had expressed feelings of shooting up the place,
but lacked the materials, know how, or actual willpower to achieve the act,
and told someone they intended to perform the act.

If law enforcement believes that Elon, or someone from his company, made false
claims to suppress Tripp's speech, then charges should be pressed. A quick
Google tells me no charges have been pressed, and it does not seem likely
charges will ever be pressed.

I know some people just have an eternal hateboner for Elon's style as CEO and
the way he personally conducts himself as a human being, but the only thing I
care about is facts, not feelings. This entire story is just summed up as
"whistleblower ex-employee claims Tesla called cops on possible revenge
shooting after being fired for violating employment contract; Tesla released
statement claiming that they believed it was a credible threat and no shooting
ultimately occurred."

What I said in quotes, obviously, does not sell newspapers and is not
sensational enough to even warrant a second glance from a reader.

~~~
fabianluque
The timing of the publication though. One day before Model Y announcement.

~~~
AndrewBissell
Perhaps the hope, on the part of whichever government officials I assume have
been asking the media and lawyers involved to hold back this information, is
that a story deeply embarrassing to Musk will discourage more dupes from
putting down Model Y deposits and becoming unsecured Tesla creditors. Elon
Musk ran the company to the verge of bankruptcy on customer deposits once
before already.

------
graycrow
I don't appreciate the Bloomberg's constant push to "move markets". Especially
their negative approach to TSLA.

------
mg794613
I'm not American and so not familiar with the laws. But can someone please
contradict me on the fact that money equals liberty in the USA? Or are all
these things that Elon do legal when you are poor too?

~~~
mg794613
I dont get the anonymous down votes. Please argument becaue I am serious. Is
it because it is very clear and apparent and I ask a stupid question? Or is it
because we dont want to talk about it? Confused here.

------
Animats
What should stockholders do when their CEO is a druggie?

~~~
rum3
Smoking a joint makes someone a druggie?

~~~
darkpuma
[http://fortune.com/2018/08/17/elon-musk-ambien-tweeting-
nyt/](http://fortune.com/2018/08/17/elon-musk-ambien-tweeting-nyt/)

[https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-
treatment/mi...](https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-
treatment/mixing-ambien)

> _Physical Risks and Side Effects of Combining Alcohol and Ambien_

> _When mixed together, Ambien and alcohol can enhance each other’s
> intoxicating effects. The following effects may be felt: [...] Confusion,
> Difficulty concentrating, Impaired cognition, Impaired judgment [...]_

------
dagoat
"You have what’s coming to you for the lies you have told to the public and
investors"

For a hit piece on Musk, I don't think that's the most flattering quote for
the victim in this story.

~~~
AndrewBissell
Tripp's courage is actually quite remarkable and admirable, as represented by
that quote in particular.

------
sweden
I usually like Bloomberg, it's one of my favorite news sources but this
article seems way off.

They begin by talking about Martin Tripp's story (without any real details of
what exactly happened), then they move to some random security guard with
claims of sex and drugs in the factory, then they jump back to Tripp's story
again and it takes a while for the article to get to the real point of Tripp's
story which is:

> "While Gouthro was trying to address the sex, drugs, and raucous
> disorganization, Tripp decided to go public. He had access to Tesla’s
> internal production database and dug into it to figure out just how much
> material was being wasted. He decided to go to Lopez, who’d written about
> Tesla for Business Insider, emailing and texting her numbers showing wasted
> material and pictures of battery parts that he said could catch fire.

> Tripp hoped that when Lopez’s story came out, Tesla would be forced to make
> the changes he’d suggested."

So he actually leaked information. I'm not a Tesla defender but it feels like
Bloomberg is trying really hard to portrait Tesla in the worst possible
picture here.

~~~
jakobegger
> So he actually leaked information.

Well, that's what a whistleblower does, isn't it?

How would a whistleblower reveal that a company is doing questionable things
without leaking information?

~~~
erikpukinskis
Take it to law enforcement.

------
kadendogthing
These articles need to be written in the manner they usually are because of
the juxtaposition of who Musk presents himself as and who he actually is.

Musk in practice isn't a scientist or engineer. He has never built anything in
a professional setting. He has discovered nothing. He belongs to the business
class. In our society we give the business class a lot of privilege, power,
and general leeway. Most of it quite frankly undeserved.

It shouldn't be a surprise that yet again, without reasonable channels about
who is "successful" and why, we end up with a class of people filled with
lackluster individuals. Musk being the current shining example; a person who
apparently isn't smart enough to stop himself from acting foolish or unethical
in any setting.

He's played games with the companies finances, engaged in deplorable behavior,
and is just a generally unsavory person.

SpaceX and Tesla do not need Musk. They never have. No company or society
needs people like Musk. Do not let the cult of personality and his myths lend
any amount of credence to his efficacy as a CEO or how impactful he actually
is as a person.

Kick him out and let him fade away.

