CALIFORNIA—On Friday, January 22, Tesla Inc. accused former software engineer Alex Khatilov of stealing trade secrets. He was ordered to appear before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers regarding allegations.
According to Tesla’s theft report, Khatilov is suspected of stealing confidential files of code and over 6,000 valuable scripts and transferring them to a personal storage account during the two weeks he was employed with the company. He was hired on December 28, 2020 and his job ended January 6, 2021.
Judge Rogers granted Tesla a restraining order Friday determining that the allegations were a serious threat. Khatilov was advised to immediately return all emails, files, and records to Tesla and ordered to appear before her, on February 4.
Investigative officials found several thousands of confidential files in Khatilov’s private storage account. He said he forgot about the files during an interview with authorities and he tried to destroy the data.
Reports indicated that Khatilov noted he was shocked over the lawsuit Tesla filed against him. Tesla sent him a file containing information for new hires. He said he transferred it to his personal Dropbox.
The case Tesla v. Khatilov, 21-cv-00528, is being tried in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California-San Jose.