Tesla whistleblower says Elon Musk is waging war on him for leaking information to Business Insider

Joe Skipper/Reuters

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla.

• Former Tesla technician Martin Tripp says Elon Musk is waging war on him for leaking information to Business Insider about the firm's raw material waste and safety standards.
• Tesla filed a lawsuit against Tripp for hacking and leaking "confidential and trade secret information" to third parties, while Musk has accused him of "sabotage."
• Tripp has protested his innocence. He said he never hacked the information and leaked it because he was concerned about public safety.
• Tripp said Telsa is "trying to do everything they can to silence me."

A former Tesla technician has said that Elon Musk is waging war on him for leaking information to Business Insider about the firm's raw material waste and safety standards.

The whistleblower, Martin Tripp, has done a round of interviews with The Guardian, The Washington Post, and CNN explaining his role in what has been an explosive week for electric car maker Tesla.

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It all started with a report in Business Insider on June 4. Tripp has admitted leaking information to this publication about the raw material waste being produced by Tesla making parts for the Model 3, as well as safety concerns that punctured batteries were being put back into manufacture.

Tesla said the claims about the raw material costs were exaggerated, and that no punctured battery cells were released back into the manufacturing process, although internal logs shown to reporter Linette Lopez suggested otherwise.

The Business Insider story triggered a furious response from Tesla CEO Musk this week. In an email circulated internally at Tesla on Monday, Musk said an employee had committed "sabotage" after not receiving a promotion.

Although Musk didn't name Tripp in the email, Tesla went on to file a lawsuit against the technician on Wednesday, which did identify him. The lawsuit, available here, said Tripp "unlawfully hacked the company's confidential and trade secret information and transferred that information to third parties."

The lawsuit further claimed that Tripp installed hacking software on the computers of three colleagues, continuing to export company data after his departure and essentially framing his former co-workers. It also said he made "false claims to the media" about the company.

Tripp spoke to media after being named, and in series of interviews protested his innocence. Business Insider has contacted Tesla for comment.

Tesla whistleblower protests innocence

Tripp told The Guardian that he leaked the information, not because he was disgruntled, but because he felt his concerns were being dismissed by management.

"I kept bringing this up to management, supervisors, anyone who would listen," he said. "Everyone just said, 'Yeah, whatever.'"

He rejected the suggestion that he was a saboteur as "flat-out lies." He admitted providing information from Tesla's manufacturing operating system to Business Insider, but said he obtained it by searching not hacking the database.

"I'm not that smart," Tripp said. "I don't know how to code. I tried to teach myself to code and I don't have the patience."

Tripp said he was motivated by public safety, not selling trade secrets to rival companies. "I've never gone to any outside company, any oil industry people. I care about the public and safety," he explained.

An alleged threat of gun-violence

The story took another twist when Tripp was accused of making threats of violence.

A Tesla spokesperson told CNBC and others that the company received a call on Wednesday from "a friend of Mr Tripp" saying that he would be coming to the firm's Gigafactory battery plant in Nevada to "shoot the place up." Police said there was "no credible threat," but noted that the investigation is still ongoing.

Tripp told the Washington Post that he "never made a threat," and called Tesla's claims "insane." He told the Post that he was visited by police on Wednesday, and that he is now seeking official whistleblower protections.

Tripp told the Guardian that he viewed the threat allegation as an intimidation tactic. "They're trying to do everything they can to silence me," he said, "and trying to set an example so that no one else will talk to the press."

An explosive email exchange

Also on Wednesday, the day of the lawsuit and the alleged gun threat, Tripp and Musk had an explosive email exchange about the affair. The emails were shared with The Guardian, the BBC, and The Washington Post.

Tripp initiated the email exchange on Wednesday, accusing Musk of telling lies to the public and investors. The tense conversation escalated quickly and Musk said Tripp was a "horrible human being." Here's the full exchange:

Tripp: "Don't worry, you have what's coming to you for the lies you have told to the public and investors."

Musk: "Threatening me only makes it worse for you"

Tripp: "I never made a threat. I simply told you that you have what's coming. Thank you for this gift!!!!"

Musk: "You should ashamed of yourself for framing other people. You're a horrible human being."

Tripp: "I NEVER 'framed' anyone else or even insinuated anyone else as being involved in my production of documents of your MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF WASTE, Safety concerns, lying to investors/the WORLD. Putting cars on the road with safety issues is being a horrible human being!"

Musk: "There are literally injuries[sic] with Model 3. It is by far the safest car in the world for any midsize vehicle. And of course a company with billions of dollars in product is going to have millions of dollars in scrap. This is not news.

"However, betraying your word of honor, breaking the deal you had when Tesla gave you a job and framing your colleagues are wrong and some come with legal penalties. So it goes. Be well."

Musk told The Guardian that emails were "unwise" on his part. "He initiated the email exchange this morning at 8.57am. I certainly would not have initiated contact, nor would I even know his personal email address, and it was probably unwise for me to have responded," he said in an email.

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