The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Tesla Motors Inc. for a possible securities law breach after the electric car maker failed to disclose a fatal crash in May, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The SEC is scrutinizing whether Tesla should have disclosed the accident as a “material” event, or a development a reasonable investor would consider important, the WSJ said.
“Tesla has not received any communication from the SEC regarding this issue. Our blog post last week provided the relevant information about this issue,” a Tesla spokeswoman said in an email.
The fatal accident killed 40-year-old Joshua Brown, who was driving a Tesla Model S car in autopilot mode.
(Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Anil D’Silva)