Tesla Fires New Salvo At Ex-Worker Bankrupted After Feud With Elon Musk

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. says a former battery factory worker who publicly criticized the company should be barred from using bankruptcy to avoid paying a $425,000 debt from a yearslong legal feud with Elon Musk.

The company on Tuesday urged a bankruptcy judge not to let Martin Tripp off the hook after he acknowledged violating trade secret laws and confidentiality agreements.

The filing is the latest twist in a dispute dating back to 2018, when Tripp anonymously told the news media that Tesla was wasting a significant amount of raw materials at its Nevada Gigafactory. That ended up getting him fired, and escalated into an exchange of insults and lawsuits with Musk and Tesla.

Read More: Tesla Guards Say Musk Became Fixated on Destroying Whistleblower

Tripp agreed to pay $400,000 in 2020 to settle Tesla’s suit accusing him of stealing confidential data. He’d also been ordered to pay Tesla $25,000 in sanctions for posting court documents online in violation of a judge’s order. 

Tripp had been making payments to Tesla until late September, when he filed for bankruptcy, according to Tuesday’s filing.

A representative for Tripp didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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