Tesla contradicts JPMorgan, which tells Reuters that the bank has been “horrible” after the tweet

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tesla (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc on Monday fought JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE 🙂 for a controversial contract, and the bank accused Elon Musk of seeking a “profit” after a popular tweet in 2018. his private electric car company.

In a Manhattan federal court case, Tesla accused JPMorgan of “bad faith and malice” in demanding $ 162.2 million from JPM, after the bank unilaterally changed the terms of the guarantees received when Tesla sold convertible bonds in 2014.

“JPMorgan put a lot of pressure on him as an act of revenge against Tesla, both because it overcame JPMorgan in big business deals and because of the encouragement of JPMorgan’s CEO Musk,” Tesla said.

By changing the terms of the guarantee, JPMorgan “made a profit for itself” after receiving a “$ 1 billion payment” from Tesla’s share price increase, Tesla added.

Musk is the CEO of Tesla, and according to Forbes, he is the richest person in the world.

Brian Marchiony, a spokesman for JPMorgan, said in an email: “There is no merit in their claims. It comes down to fulfilling contractual obligations.”

The opposition is exacerbating the battle between the largest U.S. bank and the world’s most valuable auto company, which has done little business with each other since the contract was discussed.

The guarantee entitles them to purchase the company’s shares at a “strike” price and date.

In a Nov. 15 lawsuit, JPMorgan said Tesla’s orders would allow it to lower the strike price to deal with the economic impact of the “significant corporate transactions” that the company entails.

JPMorgan said Musk had taken the Aug. 7, 2018 tweet from a private Tesla and had “secured funding,” and backed off 17 days later that it was a transaction because Tesla’s share price was more volatile.

The bank accused him of defaulting on Tesla by failing to deliver the shares or cash when the guarantees expired in June and July 2021, and by then Tesla’s share price had risen by about 10 times.

Musk’s tweets sparked a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit. It ended when Musk left Tesla’s presidency, and he and each Tesla were fined $ 20 million.

Tesla’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.