(April 21) Randeep Hothi a prominent critic on Twitter of Tesla has been hit with a restraining order by the Alameda County Superior Court in California last Friday.
Tesla's claims against Hothi
Tesla claims that Hothi "stalked, harassed, and endangered" three of its employees who were driving the Model 3 on a Bay Area highway this last week. Tesla claims Hothi "pursued these employees on the public highway for about 35 minutes, variously driving ahead of beside, and behind them, and swerving dangerously close to the vehicle" Tesla even claims that once the swerve was so close to the Model 3 that the car's crash avoidance system was set off.
Tesla also makes claims that this February Hothi struck one of its employees, while trespassing and surveilling Tesla's Fremont California factory. The claim says Hothi did not stop and fled the scene.
Restraints on Hothi
Hothi is required to stay at least 100 yards away from Tesla's factory in Fremont and also from the employees named in the restraining order. He must also stay at least 10 yards away from any Tesla vehicle with manufacturer plates within five miles of the factory. The order is effective up until May 7th when a hearing is scheduled. Neither Tesla nor Hothi have responded when asked for comments on the order.
@skabooshka on Twitter
Hothi posts on Twitter under the username @skabooshka. He published images of the Model 3 on Thursday. He said there were cameras mounted to the rear and inside the car. Hothi believes that photographs were being taken ahead of the April 22 Autonomy Investor Day event.Hothi also claimed that he saw the car violate speed limits. He said the car performed simple tasks such as lane changes implying that Tesla would misrepresent the footage on Monday.
Tesla short-sellers are a lively presence on Twitter
Short-sellers are those who in effect bet money on a stock declining in value. They sell stock on loan or that they have and then when the price declines they buy them back but paying a lower price so they can pocket the different. The practice is called selling short. Usually people buy stock in the hope it goes up or go long rather than go short. Naturally Tesla short sellers do everything they can to cast Tesla in a bad light and hope the stock price goes down. Those who think that a stock price will go up are called bulls. Those who think it will go down are called bears. On the appended video a bear is interviewed about Tesla stock.
The Tesla short-sellers on Twitter use the hashtag #TSLAQ, They try to identify fraudulent activity by Tesla and also outspoken Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Hothi and others have often posted photos of Tesla employee parking lots to gauge whether the company is operating at full capacity. They also photographs lots where inventory is held to find out demand. Tesla's crowd-sourced research also often ends up at the website tslaq.org.
Musk responds to short-sellers
Musk seems to enjoy fighting with the short-seller. He has promised to burn them a number of times by ensuring his stock goes up. By filing the restraining order Musk has now outed one of the most prominent of the short sellers. Musk is known for tweets on social media that are outspoken and some of which have gotten him into trouble.
Previously published in the Digital Journal
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