Even as the company’s CEO and largest shareholder, you have to abide by its internal rules, and according to one report, Elon Musk may not have done that at Tesla. Bloomberg News reported Thursday that an internal investigation is underway against close colleague Amid Afshar over the suspicion that he began ordering a special trophy from Tesla for private holding purposes. Other employees have already been laid off as a result, and Tesla is likely to join Afshar as well.
Tesla manager with cowboy icon
According to his LinkedIn profile, the biomedical engineer has been with Tesla since September 2017, starting as a project manager in the CEO’s office. After nearly a year he became the project manager there, and for the period of July 2020, Afshar has only hired a smiley face with a cowboy hat as a job description. He describes himself on Twitter with roughly the same icon and Tesla behind him. According to Bloomberg, he was responsible for building and then producing the Gigafactory in Texas.
He is said to have worked there this week, but that will be over soon, the agency said, citing people familiar with the matter. Tesla intends to separate from Afshar. Terms of this are currently under negotiation.
The reason for the internal investigation against him and others was to ask for a special cup. It is said that Musk’s confidant commissioned them and explained that the materials were necessary for a secret project. But according to the report, there are suspicions that the Tesla boss himself actually wanted the glass for private use, which is difficult to obtain given the problems of the global supply chain. Several other workers are said to have been fired over this issue.
The committee must review the transactions
Musk, Afshar and Tesla did not answer questions about the investigation, Bloomberg continues. The report does not disclose the type of material desired and the financial size of the order. According to Tesla’s official documents, related party transactions must be approved by the company’s audit committee in certain circumstances where the value exceeds $120,000. The report does not address the question of whether the investigation could also have consequences for the CEO himself if the suspicion of private buying is confirmed.
