On top of Tesla struggling to meet production goals for its Model 3 and having to lay off 3,000 workers, a Tesla employee who “didn’t receive the pay rise he wanted” has sabotaged the company’s manufacturing operations by changing its code and leaking sensitive information to third-parties.

The information included photographs and video of the firm’s manufacturing systems, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Nevada.

Highly sensitive data

Following the lawsuit, Elon Musk, CEO of the multinational corporation that specialises in electric vehicles, sent an email to all Tesla employees Sunday evening.

His email explains that there has been “direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System under false usernames”, and that “large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data has been exported to unknown third-parties”.

Are oil and gas companies involved?

Musk also added that they “need to figure out if he was acting alone or with others at Tesla and if he was working with any outside organisations,” while questioning whether Wall Street short-sellers and oil and gas companies are involved because of them being the “wealthiest industry in the world who don’t ‘love’ the idea of Tesla advancing the progress of solar power and electric cars.”

He ended the email asking employees to remain “extremely vigilant” over the next few weeks as production ramps up on the Model 3 and to “report anything suspicious”.

The company is seeking US$1million in damages to be determined at trial, as well as other forms of relief.

Written by Leah Alger