A longtime Tesla executive and Elon Musk confidant reportedly could be ousted because of internal scrutiny over his “suspicious” order of a hard-to-obtain type of glass.
Tesla began an internal investigation into Omead Afshar, who heads up operations at Tesla’s factory in Texas, after the company’s finance and audit groups learned he had placed a purchase order for “a special kind of glass,” a report said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Afshar purportedly told workers that the glass order was intended for a “secret project.” Investigators are attempting to determine whether the order, which was made using company resources, was for Tesla or for Musk’s personal use. The glass is said to be difficult to secure at present due to global supply chain difficulties.
Multiple Tesla employees have already been fired in connection to the internal probe, Bloomberg reported. Afshar is expected to be forced out as well – likely after a leave of absence and an agreement regarding the details of his exit.
Afshar is one of Musk’s go-to employees at Tesla and has handled several key roles at the company. Most recently, he was tasked with overseeing construction of Tesla’s Austin plant and production at the facility once it opened.
Afshar’s LinkedIn page notes that he served as project director within the office of the CEO at Tesla from June 2018 through July 2020. In the place reserved for the job title of his current role, Afshar added a cowboy emoji.
The Post has reached out to Tesla for comment. Afshar declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg about the situation.
Afshar was widely regarded as an internal “fixer” for Musk at Tesla, according to the outlet. He addressed his work at Tesla during a 2019 interview at his alma mater, the University of California at Irvine.
“I focus on where there’s a problem, so a lot of firefighting. If there’s an issue, that’s where I am,” Afshar said during the interview. “Usually when people see me they’re not always happy, because it means there’s a problem.”
Musk is known for pursuing various side projects at Tesla and his other firms alongside the core electric car business. The company is currently developing a so-called “Tesla Bot” capable of basic manual labor, among other initiatives.
Afshar last tweeted on Wednesday, when he shared a message congratulating Tesla’s team in Fremont, California on a production milestone.
“Super proud of the Fremont production team! We made our 2 millionth vehicle from the factory this week!” he wrote.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
