Elon Musk’s Right-Hand Man at Tesla Faces Scrutiny over Purchasing Irregularities

Tesla has reportedly launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s top lieutenant over the planned purchase of construction materials that the company flagged as items that could be for Elon Musk’s personal use.

Business Insider reports that Tesla has launched an investigation into Omead Afshar, the company executive overseeing Tesla’s factory in Texas and Elon Musk’s right-hand man, over the planned purchase of construction materials that the electric car makers system flagged as items that could be for the personal use of CEO Elon Musk.

Tesla has reportedly terminated several employees as part of the investigation, which relates to a special kind of glass that has been difficult to obtain due to the supply-chain crisis. Afshar is also likely to leave the company due to the internal investigation, according to sources close to the situation.

Afshar reportedly requested the purchase order and informed workers that it was for a special project. In some cases, it can be illegal to use company funds for personal expenses, especially when that company is publicly traded. If a public company is found to use company funds for an executive’s personal use, it could result in an IRS investigation and shareholder lawsuits

Afshar has worked at Tesla for almost five years in the office of the CEO. Two former employees said that Afshar led Tesla’s Texas gigafactory and regularly acted as Musk’s “direct report.” Julian Cantu, a former workplace-operations lead at Tesla, told Insider: “You didn’t do anything without getting approval from him.”

Afshar tweeted on Wednesday that he was “Super proud of the Fremont production team,” after the Fremont Factory produced its two millionth car.

Read more at Business Insider here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan