Vilas Capital with an update on their Tesla short thesis – excerpted from an email sent to investors just moments ago – see link at the bottom of this article for more info on the hedge fund

It is now clear that Tesla never had a signed commitment letter from any investor or group of investors, nor did Tesla’s Board approve this transaction. Thus, the comments by Elon Musk on Twitter that “Funding Secured” and that “Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is it is contingent on a shareholder vote” were outright lies about material corporate developments and, therefore, violate securities laws.

Due to these facts, along with past statements, the SEC is formally investigating Elon Musk and Tesla. We believe that the outcome of this investigation will be criminal charges, likely imprisonment of Mr. Musk, and his removal as an officer of Tesla.

Tesla stock traded at least 10 million shares per day the last 15 trading days. Thus, 150 million shares traded hands. The stock initially rose to $385 and then fell to its current price of $317. We estimate that the purchasers of the shares lost at least $30 per share on average. Thus, the loss to these buyers could be in the range of $4-5 billion (150 million times 30). Adding in punitive amounts, we believe that the total amount of damages will be in the $10 billion range. Tesla does not have these types of sums available to it.