The man who took down Wirecard takes aim at Tesla

Shares of Tesla are down 41% year-to-date and another 1% today after a recall and a report in the Financial Times questioning $1.4 billion “falling through the cracks” in Tesla’s financial statements.

• Tesla’s financial statements show a $1.4 billion discrepancy between capital expenditure and reported asset value increases in the second half of 2024
• Despite having $37 billion in reported cash, Tesla raised an additional $6 billion in debt last year, an unusual move
• These financial red flags (unexplained gaps between reported spending and asset values, plus raising capital while cash-rich) match patterns seen in companies with accounting issues.

As the FT says “aggressive classification of operating expenses as investment can be used to artificially boost reported profits”.

Also, this isn’t just any reporter on this story. It’s co-authored by Dan McCrum who for years raised questions about Wirecard before it collapsed and was exposed as an elaborate fraud.

Today on CNBC, one of the all-time great Tesla cheerleader analysts — Dan Ives — said that Elon Musk needs to get back to focusing on the car company and that the company is in a brand crisis.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.