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Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit against Tesla, Inc.

TSLA | August 28, 2018

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit against Tesla, Inc.

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/teslainc/) today announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of purchasers of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) securities during the period between August 7, 2018 and August 17, 2018 (the “Class Period”). This action was filed in the Northern District of California and is captioned Horwitz v. Tesla, Inc., et al., No. 18-cv-5258.

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Tesla securities during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from August 10, 2018. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Darren Robbins of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com. You can view a copy of the complaint as filed at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/teslainc/.

The complaint charges Tesla and its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Elon Musk, with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Tesla designs, develops, manufactures and sells electric vehicles and energy generation and storage systems in the United States and internationally.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants issued false and misleading statements about the prospects of taking the Company private in a series of statements by Musk issued on Twitter.com. Specifically, the complaint alleges these statements were false and misleading because they misrepresented and/or failed to disclose adverse facts regarding the potential going-private transaction, including that funding for the transaction was not secured at the time of Musk’s tweets, the Board was not aware of the plan to take Tesla private, and advisors for such a transaction had not been retained. As a result of these false statements and/or omissions, Tesla securities traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period.

On August 7, 2018, Musk issued a tweet that stated: “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” Later that day, Musk issued another tweet stating: “Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote.” After these tweets were issued, Tesla’s stock price rapidly increased, reaching an intra-day high of $387.46 per share, $45.47 per share higher than the previous day’s closing price, before closing at $379.57 per share on August 7, 2018, a one-day increase of $37.58 per share.

On August 8, 2018, there were reports in the media that the SEC was making inquiries regarding the veracity of the tweets sent by Musk and the reason the disclosures were made via a social media posting rather than a filing with the SEC. On this news, Tesla’s stock price declined $9.23 per share to close at $370.34 per share on August 8, 2018.

On August 13, 2018, Musk tweeted: “I’m excited to work with Silver Lake and Goldman Sachs as financial advisors, plus Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Munger, Tolles & Olson as legal advisors, on the proposal to take Tesla private.” On August 14, 2018, Bloomberg reported that Goldman Sachs and Silver Lake had not officially signed on when Musk issued his tweet on August 13, 2018.

Then on August 17, 2018, The New York Times published an interview with Musk in which he described the circumstances leading up to his tweets, including his high stress level and his use of Ambien to cope with the stress. On this news, the price of Tesla stock declined $29.95 per share to close at $305.50 per share on August 17, 2018.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Tesla securities during the Class Period (the “Class”). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.

Robbins Geller is one of the world’s leading law firms representing investors in securities litigation. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For five consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.

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