Tesla shareholders sue after self-driving claims caused stocks to plummet

In a lawsuit brought by Tesla shareholders, Elon Musk is accused of overstating the reliability of autopilot and full self-driving technologies in his cars, The Guardian reported.

The suit claims that Musk defrauded investors for four years by obscuring how the technology “created a serious risk of accident and injury.”

From The Guardian: "The case centers on the financial fallout of Tesla’s failed autopilot features, citing when the company’s share price fell after reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission had begun investigating the technologies. The share price also fell 5.7% on 16 February 2023 after NHTSA forced a recall of more than 362,000 Tesla vehicles equipped with full self-driving beta software because they could be unsafe around intersections."

The lawsuit states that Musk's "wrongful acts and omissions" and the "precipitous decline in the market value of the company’s common stock" have caused shareholders "significant losses and damages."

The suit, brought by shareholder Thomas Lamontagne seeks unspecified damages for Tesla shareholders from 19 February 2019 to 17 February 2023. As The Guardian points out, Chief financial officer Zachary Kirkhorn and his predecessor Deepak Ahuja are also named in the suit.

Read the full report at The Guardian.