Former Tesla Short-Seller Covered at Exactly the Wrong Time
*By Michael Teich*
Tesla's receipt of a SEC subpoena signals there could be "more fire under the hood at Tesla," said hedge fund founder and former Tesla short-seller George Schultze.
"It's troubling," he said Friday in an interview on Cheddar. "It's a bad sign for corporate governance and generally for the company."
Tesla ($TSLA) finds itself facing more regulatory pressure after the SEC subpoenaed the automaker on Friday. The government agency is probing whether Tesla delivered inaccurate projections for its Model 3 sedan in 2017.
The SEC and Tesla are already well-acquainted ー after CEO Elon Musk's $20 million fine for August tweets stating he planned to take the company private and had "funding secured." Musk was also forced to step down as Tesla's chairman. But Schultze said Tesla leadership could experience another shake-up.
"I would think there's going to be some more turmoil in the board and some changes for corporate governance."
Schultze's firm flipped on its bearish stance as a short-seller, believing that Tesla was on its way to becoming a private company. Now Schultze Asset Management is sitting on the sidelines.
"We had a short position. We covered it, unfortunately, on the day he said he that he had funding secured because we believed he was telling the truth, but it turns out that was all a big fraud."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/sec-subpoena-to-tesla-is-a-troubling-sign-says-hedge-fund-founder).
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