When I said that I didn't consider Tesla an outright fraud I had in mind the Wirecard type of fraud where numbers are fabricated and non-existent cash is claimed to be in non-existent bank accounts.
Using a strict definition of fraud, Tesla and Elon Musk commit fraud regularly
/2 https://twitter.com/markbspiegel/status/1281738327079649280

The solar city merger is the most obvious and is particularly egregious because the defrauded parties were Tesla shareholders. The solar roof is part and parcel of that same fraud.
/3

Tesla commits consumer fraud every day.
FSD is a fraud, buyers were told in 2016 they would be able to drive cross country on auto. Thousands paid for the privilege and received nothing of value, yet 50% of the money paid has been booked as revenue.
/4

Refusing to fix obvious defects under warranty is a fraud, a bumper falling off in the rain is not an act of God.
Changing warranty terms is fraud
/5

Gaming the EPA range test and claiming higher range than customers actually get is fraud
Reprogramming the battery management to improve battery life while reducing battery range is fraud
/6

Selling solar panel systems and failing to maintain them while still asking customers to pay for them is fraud
Selling used cars as new is fraud
Failing to keep adequate spare parts and a system for distributing those parts is fraud
/7

Failing to refund customer deposits in a timely manner is fraud
Taking deposits from a country where you have no intention of selling cars is fraud
Programming an app so that customers will accidentally order something they don't want, then refusing a refund, is fraud
/8

The stock pump frauds are innumerable and never ending, even after Musk's run-in and agreement with the SEC
All of Musk's statements related to FSD and Autopilot have been fraudulent
The 10,000/week by the end of 2018
The million robotaxis
/9

The 5,000/week by the end of December when he knew that the production line wasn't even finished
The fake roll-out of the first Model 3 six months before the production line was completed
They are not "forward-looking statements", they are fraud
/10

The frauds committed against employees and contractors are too numerous to list.
Failure to record and report factory injuries is fraud
/11

Failure to recall unsafe vehicles is fraud
Battery fires - known defect, no recall
Whompy wheels - know defect, no recall
SUA - known defect, no recall, no action taken to fix
Autopilot - fraudulent death trap
/12

Managing the business to goose up the quarter-end statements is not fraud, it is just stupid short term thinking, but there is some questionable book-keeping which is fraud including,
/13

Mis-allocation of warranty expense and under-reserving for warranties
Selling the same car to more than one person at quarter-end
Offering high trade-in values instead of discounts and booking the loss on trade-ins to service, to improve gross margins
/14

Keeping Solar City goodwill on the books when you know it is worth next to nothing
Manipulating the apparent prices of used cars in a deal with Carvana so you don't have to write down inventory or take a hit on residual lease values
/15

Keeping construction in progress on the books after completion of construction to avoid taking depreciation
Failure to split out China accounts may be concealing more fraud, very difficult to check.
/16

I have no doubt missed a lot of stuff. Elon Musk's entire life is a fraud, from pretending to be an engineer to pretending to be the founder of Tesla, the whole thing is a pyramid of lies and misleading statements.
What puzzles me is that there is cult that believes him.