Indian Origin Ex-Tesla Employee Charged For Embezzling $9 Million

A former Tesla employee of Indian origin has been charged in embezzlement scheme, U.S. Attorney of Northern District, California announced.

Salil Parulekar, 32, formerly of San Jose, orchestrated an embezzlement scheme at Tesla Inc, court documents stated. According to the documents, Parulekar was an employee in the Global Supply Management group at Tesla between 2016-2017 when he allegedly used his role to initiate an embezzlement scheme. He was overseeing Tesla’s relationship with certain suppliers for various parts and services related to Tesla automobiles. Parulekar took advantage of his job position and diverted money owed to one Tesla supplier and paid to another supplier. In total, Parulekar has been accused of money fraud counting to approximately $9.3 million.

Parulekar learned in Jan. 2017 that Tesla had terminated its supplier relationship with Schwabische Huttenwerke Automotive GmbH (SHW).  At the time of the termination, SHW had only provided a limited number of sample products, specifically, motor pumps, to Tesla.  Parulekar allegedly knew the termination meant that Tesla was withholding future payments to SHW and that Parulekar was not authorized to contravene this decision.  Notwithstanding these facts, Parulekar redirected a series of payments intended for another supplier, Hota Industrial Manufacturing, and caused them to be paid to SHW.

Further, the indictment record Parulekar of causing the diversion of payments by falsifying invoices; creating sham accounts payable documents, such as bank account information and wire instructions; and impersonating Hota employees. Particularly, Parulekar allegedly stole the identity of a Hota employee and, by impersonating the employee, deceived Tesla’s Accounts Payable division into switching the bank account information for Hota and SHW.

The statement further adds that the Indian origin man was charged with nine counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. The indictment was issued by a federal grand jury. It was announced by U.S. Attorney Alex G. Tse and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.

If convicted, Parulekar will be facing a maximum penalty for each count of wire fraud for twenty years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The maximum sentence for aggravated identity theft is two years in prison—to be served consecutively to the underlying felony—and a $250,000 fine.

Moreover, the statement notes, “any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. 3553.”