Tesla Founder sues Tesla Motors and its CEO
Martin Eberhard,who founds Tesla Motor, has filed a suit against new Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, and the company for libel, slander, and breach of contract, as well as different reasons.
Martin Eberhard, along with Mark Tarpenning, was a co-founder of Tesla Motors and was ousted from the company in 2007 by Elon Musk. Since 2007 Musk has defamed Eberhard, attempted to take credit for the idea and founding of Tesla Motors, and held back Eberhard’s severance pay and stock options after he agreed to leave the company.
In addition to tarnishing Eberhard’s reputation and assuming control of the company he founded, Musk withheld Eberhard’s own personal Roadster. Eberhard paid for, and was to receive the second production Roadster, part of the Founder’s Series Production. Musk instead gave the second Roadster to one of his personal friends, made Eberhard wait two years to receive his car, and ran it into the back of a truck before giving it to Eberhard.
Elon Musk came into the Tesla Motors equation after Eberhard sought out funding, of which Musk was one of the first to give the startup company money, and joined the board of directors. And then Musk assumed control of the company and become CEO.
After Ebherhard put up with Musk’s abuses for nearly two years, He is finally trying to take back at Tesla’s CEO and the company he tarnished. The only real question is: why did it take such a long time?
