Former Tesla employee embezzled $9m, prosecutors say

A former worker at Tesla has been indicted in the US for allegedly embezzling $9.3m (£7.2m) from the car manufacturer.

Prosecutors say that Salil Parulekar diverted money owed by one Tesla supplier to another in 2016 and 2017, using forged documents.

The indictment alleges that the former employee at the company’s global supply management group falsified invoices, created fake accounts payable documents and impersonated a supplier’s employee.

In January 2017, Parulekar found out that Tesla had terminated its contract with German parts provider Schwabische Huttenwerke Automotive (SHW), the Department of Justice said.

But the 32-year-old redirected a series of payments which were owed to another supplier, Hota Industrial Manufacturing, to SHW.

Pretending to be a Hota employee, Parulekar tricked Tesla into switching the bank account information for Hota and SHW, the indictment alleges.

He has been charged with nine counts of wire fraud, which carry a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

It is unclear how Parulekar intends to plead.