Report: Tesla’s Global Supply Chief Quits

Liam O’Connor, who has managed Tesla Inc.’s global supply chain for three years, has quit, sources tell Bloomberg News.

Neither Tesla nor O’Connor has commented. His reported move would follow the resignations of the company’s chief accounting officer, head of human resources and PR director earlier this month.

Tesla’s global finance and operations chief, Justin McAnear, is leaving in early October. Chief Financial Officer Susan Repo quit in March.

The exodus comes as CEO Elon Musk faces multiple legal challenges, most of them triggered by his backtracking after declaring on Aug. 7 that he had secured funding to take the company private at $420 per share. The company’s stock subsequently has plunged nearly 22% to $298.

Tesla is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about Musk’s privatization claim, which proved unfounded, and whether shareholders were properly alerted. The U.S. Dept. of Justice also has opened a criminal probe into those statements, along with others made by Musk about the company’s often-missed production and sales targets.

Separately, Musk has been hit with a libel lawsuit for branding as a pedophile a British diver who helped rescue a teenage soccer team trapped in a flooded cave two months ago.