14 DAY TRIAL // Former Tesla Motors employee Nima Kalbasi was arrested and charged with two counts of felony computer intrusion, and one count of misdemeanor computer intrusion.
These charges stem from last December, when after being fired by the company, he illegally hacked into his manager's email account.
Using information acquired from accessing his manager's inbox for 297 times, he released private employee evaluations to his former colleagues.
Mr. Kalbasi then posted private company information on various public websites and engaged in posting false and misleading comments about the company.
Nima Kalbasi is a 28-year-old Canadian citizen, who previously worked for Tesla Motors as a mechanical engineer for about a year before being released.
He was arrested by US border police in Derby Line, Vermont, as he was returning to the United States, unaware of the official investigation into his actions.
Prior to the FBI arrest announcement, no information about Kalbasi's actions have been leaked outside of the investigation or Tesla's headquarters.
For his crimes, Mr. Kalbasi can face up to five years in prison for the two felony charges, and an additional year for the misdemeanor charge.
Prior to this, all Tesla security incidents involved hacking groups taking over the company's website or Twitter account, or security researchers breaking into the company's smart cars. This is the first case of a Tesla internal data breach.