Shares of the electric car company fell 3.9 percent to $283.33 near 1610 GMT after Bloomberg News reported federal prosecutors were probing Tesla for possible fraud Tesla shares fell sharply Tuesday following a report the company faces a criminal probe over chief executive Elon Musk's now-aborted push to take the company private.
Shares of the electric car company fell 3.9 percent to $283.33 near 1610 GMT after Bloomberg News reported federal prosecutors were probing Tesla for possible fraud.
The Justice Department's investigation of Musk and his statement on Twitter that he had "funding secured" for a take-private deal is running alongside a civil probe, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Tesla has been under market regulators' scrutiny since Musk said on Twitter on August 7 that he was considering taking Tesla private, before reversing the plan two weeks later.
Musk has also been criticized for other unorthodox behavior, including appearing on a podcast smoking marijuana and giving a tell-all interview to The New York Times in which he admitted to feeling overwhelmed and unable to sleep over Tesla's ambitious electric-car production targets.
On Monday, British caver Vernon Unsworth filed a defamation suit against Musk for calling him a "pedo guy" and a "child rapist" on Twitter in a bizarre spat over the cave rescue in Thailand of a boys' soccer team and their coach.
Despite the myriad controversies, Musk continues to have a strong following with many investors and Tesla's market capitalization remains well above that of Ford and only slightly behind that of General Motors.
Explore further: Tesla shares fall again on doubts about go-private deal