Tesla Motors allegedly covered up "substantial narco trafficking" by employees in Nevada Gigafactory and spied on employees

[AlTech]

Tesla, the electric car company behind the Model S, has been accused of covering up "substantial narco trafficking" in their Nevada Gigafactory.

 

The complaint was filed by a former Tesla employee with the SEC this summer.

 

The complaint alleges that several Tesla employees participated in trafficking illegal narcotics such as cocaine and crystal methamphetamine on behalf of a Mexican drug cartel.

 

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A former member of Tesla’s in-house security team has told the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company silenced internal investigations into alleged criminal activity at the Gigafactory in Nevada, according to a summary of his formal complaint. Those investigations focused on claims of massive theft and “substantial drug trafficking.” The complaint also includes allegations that Tesla spied on employees’ electronic devices.

It’s the second known whistleblower complaint from a former Tesla employee filed with the SEC this summer. The news was first reported by Jalopnik.

Karl Hansen, the former employee, claims that Tesla was told in May by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Storey County Sheriff’s Office Task Force that “several Tesla employees may be participants in a narcotics trafficking ring involving the sale of significant quantities of cocaine and possibly crystal methamphetamine at the Gigafactory on behalf of a Mexican drug cartel from Sonora Mexico.”

 

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After the announcement of Hansen’s suit, a DEA spokesperson told BuzzFeed that “the DEA does not notify non-law enforcement entities of ongoing or pending investigations,” implying that it wouldn’t have told Tesla.

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Hansen also says his team discovered that, from January to June of this year, $37 million of copper and other raw materials were stolen from the Gigafactory. But the company “instructed [him] not to report the thefts to outside law enforcement,” and told him to shut down his investigation, he says. Hansen claims he was fired in July as a result.

The Storey County Sheriff’s office said in a statement that it “cannot confirm nor deny the existence of an ongoing investigation of drug activity that is connected to the Gigafactory, but says it received two reports of theft. The office says it was never contacted by Hansen himself.

A spokesperson for Tesla said it took Hansen’s allegations “very seriously.” But the company says “some of his claims are outright false” and “could not be corroborated.”

“[W]e suggested additional investigative steps to try and validate the information he had received second-hand from a single anonymous source,” the spokesperson said. “Because we wanted to be sure we got this right, we made numerous attempts to engage further with Mr. Hansen to understand more about what he was claiming and the work that he did in reaching his conclusions. He rejected each of those attempts, and to date has refused to speak with the company further.”

 

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Tesla also allegedly engaged in unauthorized surveillance of its employees, according to the summary of Hansen’s complaint published today by Meissner. Hansen claims that Tesla installed “specialized router equipment within its Nevada Gigafactory designed to capture employee cell phone communications and/or retrieve employee cell phone data” after Tripp was fired. Hansen and Meissner also claim that Tripp was surveilled by Tesla even after the former employee was fired.

 

This is what Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, had to say:

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This guy is super ?

that emoji is supposed to be a peanut emoji in case it doesn't load on your device.

 

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“[W]e suggested additional investigative steps to try and validate the information he had received second-hand from a single anonymous source,” the spokesperson said. “Because we wanted to be sure we got this right, we made numerous attempts to engage further with Mr. Hansen to understand more about what he was claiming and the work that he did in reaching his conclusions. He rejected each of those attempts, and to date has refused to speak with the company further.”

Musk's recent surprise announcement of wanting to take Tesla private have caused the SEC to launch an investigation into Tesla.

 

Hopefully if any Tesla employees are guilty of the alleged narco trafficking they are brought to justice and Tesla punished for covering it up.

 

Spying on employees is also a really bad thing imho.
 

Sources:

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-on-whistleblower-accusing-tesla-of-illegally-1828399337

https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/16/17704274/tesla-gigafactory-drug-trafficking-cover-up-sec-whistleblower

 

[Guest]

 

[AlTech]

2 minutes ago, Densetsu said:

 

How else was Tesla gonna be able to buy back stock and take their company private?

 

/joke

[Dylanc1500]

So this is what the boring company was for....

 

joking

[ItsMitch]

13 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

substantial narco trafficking

ahahhahhaha don't make me fucking laugh, ahhahahhahahahahha

[AlTech]

Just now, SC2Mitch said:

ahahhahhaha don't make me fucking laugh, ahhahahhahahahahha

Plot Twitst: Elon Musk is somehow a descendant of Pablo Escobar.

/joke

[ItsMitch]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

Plot Twitst: Elon Musk is somehow a descendant of Pablo Escobar.

/joke

I think we all know Tesla is sketchy with it's Model 3 production & looking after it's staff but drug trafficking....... fuck me this is silly now

[Deus Voltage]

Before I read the article, I researched the website a bit (Jalopnik). They don't seem to have a grudge against Tesla (their latest Model 3 review praises the company in fact) and they don't seem to be in the pocket of oil companies (they criticized Ford's attempt to get unnecessary Tax Breaks).

 

The article itself seems pretty impartial and balanced, at least from my perspective. Although, as someone who likes the company and what it strives for, I must say that if the statements of the accuser are accurate, I am pretty disappointed. Aside from that, not sure how to feel exactly. Time will tell.  

[Jtalk4456]

24 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

-snip-

 

Quote

 

After the announcement of Hansen’s suit, a DEA spokesperson told BuzzFeed that “the DEA does not notify non-law enforcement entities of ongoing or pending investigations,” implying that it wouldn’t have told Tesla.

 

Hansen also says his team discovered that, from January to June of this year, $37 million of copper and other raw materials were stolen from the Gigafactory. But the company “instructed [him] not to report the thefts to outside law enforcement,” and told him to shut down his investigation, he says. Hansen claims he was fired in July as a result.

The Storey County Sheriff’s office said in a statement that it “cannot confirm nor deny the existence of an ongoing investigation of drug activity that is connected to the Gigafactory, but says it received two reports of theft. The office says it was never contacted by Hansen himself.

 

so hansen lied. plain and simple. dea didn't talk to tesla, and thefts were reported to the police. I get there's problems with the business but making up nonsense because you got fired is not the way to handle your anger

[PlayStation 2]

Why does this sound like it could be a Scooby-Doo episode?

[Okjoek]

Dear Tesla

 

[GoodBytes]

To me it sounds like Tesla has no part in this.... at least not directly.. well...

ok let me explain myself.

 

It sounds like the company they hired to build the facility has some employees that have a... side job... that happened on the facility. And that was probably done because some manager at Tesla is part of this.. side business (part of it, or paid off/corrupted) and is the one that tried to bury it. And if any info reached all the way to the top, investigation papers were altered to make it drop the case, and not look any further. I mean it is easy to have the person responsible in the investigation go "False information. No concern". I guess the mistake from Tesla is to not have that handled by a third party... but that is assuming it reach the upper level, which probably didn't.

 

Then again:

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On October 19, 1982, the automaker John Z. DeLorean is arrested and charged with conspiracy to obtain and distribute 55 pounds of cocaine. DeLorean was acquitted of the drug charges in August 1984, but his legal woes were only beginning. He soon went on trial for fraud and over the next two decades was forced to pay millions of dollars to creditors and lawyers. Nevertheless, DeLorean occupies an important place in automotive history: Thanks to its starring role in the 1985 film “Back to the Future,” his gull-wing sports car is one of the most famous cars in the world.

Full story:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-z-delorean-is-arrested-in-24-million-cocaine-deal

 

But I don't think that Elon Musk is that desperate for funding, like DeLorean was.

 

[Deus Voltage]

10 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

To me it sounds like Tesla has no part in this.... at least not directly.. well...

ok let me explain myself.

 

It sounds like the company they hired to build the facility has some employees that have a... side job... that happened on the facility. And that was probably done because some manager at Tesla is part of this.. side business (part of it, or paid off/corrupted) and is the one that tried to bury it. And if any info reached all the way to the top, investigation papers were altered to make it drop the case, and not look any further. I mean it is easy to have the person responsible in the investigation go "False information. No concern". I guess the mistake from Tesla is to not have that handled by a third party... but that is assuming it reach the upper level, which probably didn't.

 

Then again:

Full story:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-z-delorean-is-arrested-in-24-million-cocaine-deal

 

But I don't think that Elon Musk is that desperate for funding, like DeLorean was.

 

This.

 

The most likely theory, from what I have read thus far, is that Elon Musk was not aware of the nefarious narcotic happenings in the factory before Hansen was fired. 

 

What makes matters more confusing however, is the following quote by Tesla spokesperson: 

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"He rejected each of those attempts, and to date has refused to speak with the company further. It seems strange that Mr. Hansen would claim that he is concerned about something happening within the company, but then refuse to engage with the company to discuss the information that he believes he has."

Either:

 

A) Hansen has been instructed by his lawyer not to make any further contact with Tesla.

B) Hansen is indirectly being threatened by another entity unknown currently to the general public.

C) Hansen is lying and does not want to cooperate.

 

D) Tesla is lying about asking Hansen for further information

E) Tesla is telling the truth partially (in other words, they made vague attempts to contact him, just so that they can be legally protected regarding informing Hansen).

F) Tesla is telling the Truth.

 

There are other factors at play. For instance, the DEA noted that Hansen did not contact them, but was he the tipster nonetheless? 

 

[Bananasplit_00]

this seems silly but il wait untill there is more to it.

[hobobobo]

This is fascinating) Hope Tesla futher strives to make the drugs sustainable, oil meth sux, green one ftw

 

Id love to belive "we knew nothing aint our fault" in their case, but it smells of bs from a mile. Wankers hoped to sweep it all under the rag and deal with it internally, like good little corporate whores do, but shit hit the fan and they are convering their own asses. And hey, if Elon had no clue thieft and drug trafficing is happening at his GIGA factory, he should either fire his aids or himself. This is not an employee bringing a 40yo tg hooker to bring your kid to work day, this shit is super serial and should be brought to executives as soon as anything starts smelling funny.

 

TL;DR Fuck you Tesla, you reap what u sow

[Jtalk4456]

4 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

To me it sounds like Tesla has no part in this.... at least not directly.. well...

ok let me explain myself.

 

It sounds like the company they hired to build the facility has some employees that have a... side job... that happened on the facility. And that was probably done because some manager at Tesla is part of this.. side business (part of it, or paid off/corrupted) and is the one that tried to bury it. And if any info reached all the way to the top, investigation papers were altered to make it drop the case, and not look any further. I mean it is easy to have the person responsible in the investigation go "False information. No concern". I guess the mistake from Tesla is to not have that handled by a third party... but that is assuming it reach the upper level, which probably didn't.

 

Then again:

Full story:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-z-delorean-is-arrested-in-24-million-cocaine-deal

 

But I don't think that Elon Musk is that desperate for funding, like DeLorean was.

 

I'm confused why everyone is talking like there IS a drug ring. The DEA said they do not tell companies if there is an investigation like this, which is in direct conflict with the story he claims. Hansen is lying, plain and simple. 

[Guest]

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After the announcement of Hansen’s suit, a DEA spokesperson told BuzzFeed that “the DEA does not notify non-law enforcement entities of ongoing or pending investigations,” implying that it wouldn’t have told Tesla.

ooof, why we getting our News from BuzzFeed?

[suicidalfranco]

is it more negative press against musk because of the Pravda thing?

[Tog Driver]

thank you.

[mr moose]

Well, this news certainly settles the 1180/2080 naming issue and proves that oswald was innocent. 

[voiha]

On 8/17/2018 at 5:12 PM, AluminiumTech said:

a DEA spokesperson told BuzzFeed

BuzzCream No thanks, Bye!