Tesla says JPMorgan is suing the car maker because the bank's top executives hate Elon Musk

• Tesla filed a countersuit against JPMorgan Chase in response to the bank's breach-of-contract lawsuit.
• The car maker says the bank is suing it for $162 million partly due to "senior JPM executives' animus" toward CEO Elon Musk.

Tesla is countersuing JPMorgan Chase in the latest development in the companies' months-long legal feud.

The car maker filed a counterclaim against the bank on Monday in response to JPMorgan's lawsuit last year alleging Tesla breached a 2014 contract regarding stock warrants.

The company accused JPMorgan of acting in "bad faith and avarice" when filing its lawsuit, which seeks $162 million from Tesla.

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"Last year, JPM obtained billions of dollars' worth of shares of Tesla's common stock for a bargain price that the parties negotiated in 2014," the countersuit reads. "Not content with this multibillion–dollar gain, JPM now seeks, through this cynical litigation, to extract an additional nine-figure windfall from Tesla."

JPMorgan demanded additional shares "as an act of retaliation against Tesla both for it having passed over JPM in major business deals and out of senior JPM executives' animus toward Mr. Musk," Tesla continued in the countersuit.

In a statement to Insider, JPMorgan said, "There is no merit to their claim. This comes down to fulfilling contractual obligations."

In its lawsuit in November, JPMorgan said Tesla sold warrants to the bank that would pay if their strike price was below Tesla's share price upon expiration. The bank adjusted the strike price after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted in August 2018 that he was considering taking the company private at $420 a share and had "funding secured."

JPMorgan adjusted the strike price again when Tesla gave up those plans and says the contract allowed it to make the adjustments, which Tesla has called "opportunistic."

The Securities and Exchange Commission later charged Musk with securities fraud over his tweet. Musk ultimately reached a settlement with the agency that required Musk and Tesla each pay a $20 million fine and that Musk step down as chairman of Tesla's board for three years.

In its countersuit, Tesla said it seeks unspecified damages and a dismissal of JPMorgan's lawsuit.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.