Tesla Sues Former Engineer for Allegedly Exporting Confidential Data

Musk

According to a lawsuit filed today in Nevada, Tesla has sued its former process engineer Martin Tripp for allegedly exporting gigabytes of data illegally, including dozens of confidential photographs and a video of Tesla’s manufacturing systems, CNBC News reports.

The electric car maker also alleges that Tripp wrote computer code to periodically export Tesla’s data to people outside the company, and even made false claims to reporters.

“Tripp has thus far admitted to writing software that hacked Tesla’s manufacturing operating system (‘MOS’) and to transferring several gigabytes of Tesla data to outside entities”, the suit said.

The lawsuit says Tripp took his actions in retaliation for being reassigned to a new role within Tesla.

“For example, Tripp claimed that punctured battery cells had been used in certain Model 3 vehicles even though no punctured cells were ever used in vehicles, batteries or otherwise,” the suit said. “Tripp also vastly exaggerated the true amount and value of ‘scrap’ material that Tesla generated during the manufacturing process, and falsely claimed that Tesla was delayed in bringing new manufacturing equipment online.”

Tesla’s full lawsuit filing can be accessed in .pdf format at this link.

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