The US bank JPMorgan sued Tesla, which claims 162.2 million dollars for breaking “flagrantly” contractual obligations.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in New York, JPMorgan accuses the electric car maker led by Elon Musk of failing to pay it in stocks or money as required by a contract.
In a deal signed in 2014, Tesla sold to JPMorgan Share subscriptions that allowed the bank to buy these securities at a pre-established price ($ 560.6388) before a fixed term (June and July 2021).
If, when this contract expired, the Tesla share was worth more than the agreed price, the manufacturer had to make up the difference by paying the bank. If it was inferior, Tesla had nothing to pay JPMorgan.
To hedge against a sharp fluctuation in the stock, JPMorgan reserved the right to readjust the price to exercise the purchase in the event of unforeseen events.
In August 2018, Musk announced on Twitter that he planned to remove Tesla from the stock market at a price of 420 dollars per share, before abandoning the idea a few weeks later.
Musk was then forced to leave the chairmanship of the board of directors of Tesla by the stock market authorities because of this information. The company and himself had to pay a more of 20 million dollars.
JPMorgan decided to lower the price to exercise the right to buy to $ 424.66 per share, following Musk’s initial tweet, and then raise it to $ 484.35 when the businessman decided to back down on his idea of leaving Wall Street.
A third adjustment to $ 96.87 took place in August 2020 when Tesla decided to split its shares 5 to 1.
The bank warned Tesla of these changes but the manufacturer ignored or rejected them. “Although JPMorgan’s adjustments were appropriate and required by the contract, Tesla rejected an agreement on the exercise (purchase) price and payment of the full amount due to JPMorgan,” the bank notes in its complaint.
JPMorgan estimates that Tesla owed it the equivalent of 230,000 shares at the expiration of the contract, or 162.2 million dollars, based on the price of the paper on that date.
Tesla’s stock is worth more than $ 1,000 on the stock market. Contacted by AFP, Tesla had no comment.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx