Tesla faces criminal probe over Elon Musk's tweets

The US Justice Department has opened a criminal probe against Tesla regarding the recent tweets of CEO Elon Musk who said he intended to take the company private.

Federal prosecutors opened the investigation after Musk tweeted he had secured funding to take the company private, sending the company's shares higher as 'short-sellers' were forced to buy-back in a hurry. The probe will run alongside a previous civil inquiry by securities regulators.

The DoJ issued a 'voluntary' request of documents and Tesla has cooperated with the body. The company also admitted it had not received a subpoena or a request for testimony.

"Last month, following Elon’s announcement that he was considering taking the company private, Tesla received a voluntary request for documents from the DOJ and has been cooperative in responding to it," the company said in a statement released Tuesday.

"We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process. We respect the DOJ's desire to get information about this and believe that the matter should be quickly resolved as they review the information they have received."

Musk explained that the funding would come from Saudi Arabia, with whom he had negotiated in the past. The company later said that it had not received an official proposal to take Tesla private and has since abandoned the plans.

Tesla shares dropped 3.4% to $284.96 on Tuesday and are down about 8.5% this year. Its value has fallen by almost a third since the tweets, erasing nearly $18bn from the company's market value.

The CEO's behaviour has had a negative impact on Tesla's shares before. Earlier this year, he falsely accused British diver Vernon Unsworth of being a paedophile. The diver helped rescue the children trapped in a Thai cave this summer and had criticised Musk's plan to send a miniature submarine into the cave.

Tesla's shares took another hit earlier this month when Musk smoked marijuana on a live web show and two senior executives announced they were leaving.