Facebook co-founder equates Tesla to scandal-hit Enron, Elon Musk retorts

Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who is known for his attacks against Tesla, has now called the Elon Musk-led firm as the next Enron.

In case you are not aware, energy giant Enron had filed for bankruptcy in 2001 after being caught using creative accounting to hide billions of dollars in debt. It was also found guilty of lying about its sources of revenue. Enron's chief executives were found guilty of fraud and conspiracy in 2006.

Moskovitz alleged that Tesla misled consumers on a massive scale and lied about its Full-Self Driving (FSD) software and the vehicle's ranges, Business Insider reported.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk's Tesla Autopilot probed after 20 crashed in months since recall

Musk did not directly address the Facebook co-founder's charges but called him names on X.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not directly address Moskovitz's allegations but instead, on Friday, hurled insults and a slur at the Facebook cofounder on X.

“I'd like to apologize to Dustin Moskovitz for calling him a 'retard'. That was wrong. What I meant to say is that he is a pompous idiot whose his head is so far up his own ass that he is legally blind. I wish him the best and hope that someday we can be friends,” Musk said in another post.

Although Moskovitz did not outline the detailed evidence for each of his charges, he shared graphs from Tesla that he claimed show how the EV maker is trying to show a hike in miles driven with the software.

The Facebook co-founder even predicted that people would end up in jail, the report added. Tesla has faced lawsuits and investigations from federal regulators on the Full-Self Driving software or Autopilot, but there have been no legal challenges related to the company misleading people.

Several lawsuits have been filed by the drivers who accused Tesla of misleading customers about the FSD capabilities. The company has either settled or has not been found liable, the Business Insider report added.

On Friday, The US’s top auto-safety regulator extended its years-long investigation of Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot to determine whether a fix the carmaker made months ago does enough to keep people from misusing the system, Bloomberg reported.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that it has opened a query into the Autopilot recall Tesla conducted in December.

The agency is concerned as to whether the company’s remedy was sufficient, in part due to 20 crashes that occurred involving vehicles that received Tesla’s over-the-air software update.