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Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

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Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#31

Post by codeisawesome »

> Tripp’s allegations were summarized in a statement from Meissner Associates, a New York-based law firm that represented a former Monsanto Co. employee who was awarded $22 million in August 2016 for tipping off the SEC to improper accounting.

much later down the winding language of the article

> Meissner said he won’t be representing Tripp in the federal lawsuit in Nevada. Tripp “is in the process of interviewing attorneys,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s not easy to find counsel. There’s almost a cult of Tesla.”

Why not present these facts together in one paragraph? Because people don’t read all the way through, and it helps feed rumours.

Just another article hitting the HN front page with a sensationalist title and breathless writing.

Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#32

Post by falcolas »

jtbayly wrote: post #19
typon wrote: post #5

The media reports on this story are quite conflicting... Not sure who to believe. Is this guy an innocent whistleblower who's being targeted by Tesla or someone with an agenda against Tesla trying to sabotage the company?

That’s why we have courts. It’s not our job to decide he said she said cases like this in the public square where we simply cannot have access to the necessary data. Not saying courts are perfect, but at least they have the ability to get the necessary data.

It's just a shame someone has to do crowdfunding to afford a fair trial.

Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#33

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Klathmon wrote: post #23
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> currently being sued by Tesla Suing him after firing him was probably an immature overreaction on Tesla's part. It forced the former employee into a more-aggressive posture. Better strategy would have been (a) suing competitors he gave information to (if any) and (b) nudging a local DA to press criminal charges.

Immature overreaction? He alledgedly stole company secrets and gave them to others in a way that framed other employees at the company, and would continue to run after he left. Assuming those charges are true, why would it be an overreaction to sue the person who did it!? That to me is the only valid reaction. This person is accused of knowingly purposefully trying to harm Tesla and help competition. The only way thi…

> why would it be an overreaction to sue the person who did it!? That to me is the only valid reaction

There are three reasons to sue: (1) as a deterrent, (2) to get an injunction and/or (3) to recover financial damages.

The former employee appears broke, so (3) goes out of the window. (2) is a possibility, but mitigated given he already shared the data. As for (1), unemployment + threatened criminal charges would do as much work.

Now let's look at the downsides. Tesla has Streisand effected this former employee's claims. The lawsuit will bankrupt the former employee if he can't show whistleblower status. That incentivises him to double down. At the same time, the public attention incentivises the SEC to look closer. Even without any wrongdoing, that attention is time consuming and costly.

If all this employee did was share with journalists and the SEC, the lawsuit could become a PR problem. Even if Tesla prevails, it will have dragged itself into an expensive distraction.

Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#35

Post by pwaai »

olefoo wrote: post #7

"a cult of Tesla" Nope, not possible. I mean it would be ridiculous if a large number of people displayed unthinking loyalty to a money-making venture just because it projected an image that catered to their prejudices, wouldn't it?

> Nope, not possible. I mean it would be ridiculous if a large number of people displayed unthinking loyalty to a money-making venture just because it projected an image that catered to their prejudices, wouldn't it?

basically ICOs

Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#36

Post by mchahn »

stephengillie wrote: post #21
laveur wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More importantly it should mention that he was caught red handed stealing company secrets and sending them to others. This one is a bit better coverage of it: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/tesla-whistleblo...

> This one is a bit better coverage of it This article omits the crowdfunded defense and all quotes from the defendant, Martin Tripp. It also glosses over the purported issues: > Tripp told the SEC that Tesla had installed batteries with holes punctured in them, placed battery cells too close to one another and didn’t properly affix them. ... Tripp also alleged that the company systematically reused parts that had be…

> Is Tesla running an undercover salvage operation, to identify reusable components and reduce waste from their "totaled" cars?

The economics of the situation would say no. The number of "totaled" teslas is a tiny fraction of the number they are producing.

Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#37

Post by manicdee »

jonknee wrote: post #6
laveur wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More importantly it should mention that he was caught red handed stealing company secrets and sending them to others. This one is a bit better coverage of it: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/tesla-whistleblo...

> More importantly it should mention that he was caught red handed stealing company secrets and sending them to others That is a roundabout way of describing a whistleblower. He didn't give information to competitors, he gave it to journalists and the SEC.

Journalist singular. He only gave data to SEC after Tesla started trade secrets proceedings.

Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#38

Post by manicdee »

danso wrote: post #10
laveur wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More importantly it should mention that he was caught red handed stealing company secrets and sending them to others. This one is a bit better coverage of it: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/tesla-whistleblo...

IIRC, Tesla's civil complaint accuses Tripp of writing "hacking software" but doesn't mention any other effects of the software besides exfiltration of data to unspecified third parties: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/06/tesla-sues-emplo... > Beyond the misconduct to which Tripp admitted, he also wrote computer code to periodically export Tesla’s data off its network and into the hands of third parties. His…

What do you want the software to do other than exfiltrate data in order to count as “hacking software”?

Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#39

Post by manicdee »

typon wrote: post #5

The media reports on this story are quite conflicting... Not sure who to believe. Is this guy an innocent whistleblower who's being targeted by Tesla or someone with an agenda against Tesla trying to sabotage the company?

What is he blowing the whistle on? Who did he try to notify?

Re: Ex-Tesla worker escalates battle by blowing whistle to SEC

#40

Post by iamshs »

jonknee wrote: post #27
mr_toad wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which journalists? If he did, they don’t seem to be in a hurry to print what he gave them.

I'm not sure if there is a list, but he definitely gave info to Business Insider and that is apparently what set Elon off: http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-whistleblower-martin-tr... This is the piece they used his info for: http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-3-scrap-waste-hig...

Why would anyone leak to BI? I is already hard to trust anything on that website.
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