Four years ago, Michael Gonzalez drove the Model X delivered to him by Tesla onto the frozen lake of Lake Champlain in Vermont. Go away.
What the 34-year-old may not have realized at the time was that his fifth attempt to steal from Elon Musk would also be his last.
In 2018, Gonzalez discovered a loophole in Tesla’s controls that allowed him to receive delivery and title to the vehicle without paying an initial deposit of more than $2,500.
All he had to do was provide the details of a bank account that either lacked sufficient funds or was completely fictitious.
The Shelburne, Vermont, resident then resold the nearly-new vehicle on the private used car market to pocket the difference.
Gonzalez discovered what he thought was a license to print money, which led him to repeat the fraud again and again in different states, actually stealing five luxury vehicles with a total value of approximately $560,000.
Now Gonzalez may spend The next four years in prison After pleading guilty, a U.S. District Court judge sentenced him on multiple interstate felonies.
While he deceived Musk, Tesla was still trying to prove the short sellers wrong by proving that its business model could scale. At that time, the market value of this challenger brand was difficult to reach around US$50 billion, which is a far cry from today.
The key to transforming it into a stock exchange behemoth with a market capitalization of more than $800 billion is financial results that show trading volume surging from one quarter to the next, a boost that Gonzalez may be able to capitalize on.
Why was Gonzalez arrested?
According to law enforcement officials, Gonzalez made nearly $232,000 by selling three of the five vehicles to used car buyers. Had he given up while ahead instead of trying his luck, he would have likely gotten away with it.
In Gonzalez’s fifth attempt to trick Tesla, Musk’s company still chose to deliver a newly built Model X.
However, for unknown reasons, and Tesla could not be reached for comment, this time the company was either unable – or unwilling – to transfer the certificate of ownership, which the manufacturer typically obtains from the Department of Motor Vehicles on behalf of the new owner.
Without the legal documents needed to flip the vehicle, Gonzalez came up with the idea arson Instead, hope to collect damages.
It all ended when the insurance company asked him to get tested.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont said Thursday that Gonzalez must now provide $493,000 in restitution to Tesla and pay a $231,900 fine to the U.S. government.
Tesla reports third-quarter earnings on Wednesday.New finance chief Vaibhav Taneja may face problems with steep price cuts as he gains share in U.S. EV market immersion Nearly 10 percentage points.
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