(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. says hedge fund Cable Car Capital LLC, which is shorting the company’s stock, is funding a former employee’s defamation allegations.
The carmaker said in a filing Monday that Martin Tripp’s counterclaim against Tesla was being funded by Cable Car, even though Tripp has said under oath that he had no financing or connection to Tesla short sellers.
Cable Car portfolio manager Jacob Ma-Weaver had no immediate comment.
Tesla sought an emergency order from a judge forbidding Tripp from publicizing confidential information. Tripp has disclosed volumes of Tesla’s confidential documents, deposition transcripts and filings in his posts on Twitter, YouTube and Google Drive, Tesla said in federal court in Reno, Nevada.
“Tripp has no excuse,” Tesla said. “He is fully aware of his confidentiality obligations and is openly flouting them. And he has a ready source to pay any monetary sanctions, as his bogus defamation counterclaim against Tesla is being funded by a hedge fund, Cable Car Capital LLC, which is also a short seller of Tesla stock.”
A lawyer for Tripp didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Tesla has sued Tripp, a onetime technician at a Nevada factory, for allegedly stealing company trade secrets after he was denied a promotion. Tripp, in turn, filed his own suit accusing Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk of smearing him. Much of the fight has been waged through Twitter and strategic media leaks.
According to Tesla, Tripp on Aug. 7 posted a link on Twitter to a public Google Drive folder that housed “voluminous” material related to the lawsuit, and he shared videos on YouTube discussing the case and Tesla secrets. The disclosures included confidential records produced by Tesla, transcripts and mediation documents.
Tripp initially said he wouldn’t remove the information posted. On Aug. 8, he removed the link to the Google Drive folder, but by then the material had been shared and saved by others, Tesla said.
The case is Tesla Inc. v. Tripp, 18-CV-00296, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada (Reno).
(Updates with Cable Car response in third paragraph.)
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