Elon Musk threatens JP Morgan with ‘1 star review on Yelp’ if they don't withdraw lawsuit

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has threatened America's biggest bank JPMorgan with ‘a one-star review on Yelp’ unless it withdraws a $162 million lawsuit against him, accusing him of violating their agreements with his 'erratic and provocative' tweets.

In August 2018, Musk tweeted that he had enough funding to take his company Tesla private, referencing $'420', which is often used as slang for marijuana. The tweet skyrocketed Tesla's share price and Musk was fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in October 2018. He was ordered to pay $20 million, and Tesla was ordered to pay the same.

Last week, JP Morgan Chase sued Tesla for ‘flagrantly’ breaching a 2014 contract, relating to the warrants that the EV maker sold to the bank. Warrants give the holder the right to buy a company’s stock at a set strike price and date. 

‘We have provided Tesla multiple opportunities to fulfil its contractual obligations, so it is unfortunate that they have forced this issue into litigation,’ JPMorgan said on November 15.

'I aspire to comedy': Elon Musk

In a quirky response to the lawsuit, Musk retorted, ‘If JPM doesn’t withdraw their lawsuit, I will give them a one-star review on Yelp. This is my final warning!’ 

Yelp's website publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses in the US. Musk said that he gave a “serious” response since JPMorgan’s allegations were equally “serious.” On Sunday night the South African-born billionaire tweeted, ‘I aspire to comedy’. 

JPMorgan's $162m lawsuit against Elon Musk

It is unusual for a major Wall Street bank to sue such a high-profile client, although JPMorgan has done relatively little business with the electric car maker over the past seven years, say reports. 

The suit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, is based on a dispute that JPMorgan re-priced its Tesla warrants as a result of Musk’s notorious 2018 tweet that he was considering taking the carmaker private.

Tesla’s share price rose approximately ten-fold by the time the warrants expired this year, and JPMorgan said Tesla was bound by its contract to hand over shares of its stock or cash. The bank said Tesla’s failure to do that attracted the lawsuit. Dimon, who is heading the bank since 2005, has been unimpressed by Musk’s actions.