Tesla is under a federal wire fraud probe for misleading investors

However, the partially automated driving systems remain critically important to Tesla, particularly FSD. In April, the company dropped the price of this controversial option by $4,000, and Musk recently told his followers that "[g]oing balls to the wall for autonomy is a blindingly obvious move." As Tesla's profit margins and sales shrink, the revenue brought in by FSD is becoming increasingly important to the company's bottom line, even though not all of it can be recognized currently.

There is no guarantee that prosecutors will charge Tesla with fraud. Neither "puffery" nor "corporate optimism" counts as fraud, according to US courts, and the DOJ would need to prove that Tesla knew its claims were untrue. As we saw last year, relying on Musk's social media posts probably won't work, but the prosecutors have subpoenaed what Reuters described as "voluminous documents" from the automaker.