Tesla gets restraining order against short seller for stalking factory, harassing workers
- Tesla identifies the California man as Randeep Hothi, who is part of an online group of short sellers who want to see the company fail
Elon Musk’s war with Tesla short sellers just got weirder.
The electric carmaker claims a California man who it says is part of an online group of short sellers has been stalking its Fremont factory and harassing its employees – including dangerously swerving his car towards a Tesla Model 3 that was on a motorway test drive and injuring a Tesla security guard in a hit-and-run on company property.
Tesla persuaded a state court judge on Friday to issue a temporary restraining order requiring the man to stay at least 100 yards (91.4 metres) away from its factory and employees.
The bizarre events described in court filings, first reported by the website Electrek, prompted a tweet from Musk on Saturday.
Ten minutes later came a response from the Twitter handle @skabooshka – the very account that Tesla says belongs to the man who has been menacing its employees.
Tesla claims it was able to identify the harasser as Randeep Hothi from the licence plate of the vehicle he drove – and that it also traced Hothi to the Twitter account he allegedly shares with his brother that frequently tweets with the hashtag “$TSLAQ” in solidarity with others who want to see the company fail.