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Jim Chanos Denies Getting Inside Tesla Tips After Musk's Tweets

Jim Chanos Denies Getting Inside Tesla Tips After Musk's Tweets

(Bloomberg) -- Jim Chanos, the short-seller who’s been a longtime critic of Tesla Inc., said he’s never received or paid for inside information about any company, including the electric-car maker.

Chanos, who runs hedge fund Kynikos Associates, was responding to a question on CNBC about a series of tweets from Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. In a July 5 post, Musk questioned whether a journalist was an inside trading source for one of Tesla’s biggest short-sellers.

“We talk to journalists all the time,” Chanos said. “We have never received inside information from any journalist at any time, including Tesla, and never paid any journalist at any time, including over Tesla for access.”

Chanos has called Tesla’s equity worthless and told Bloomberg News in December that the company is headed for a “brick wall.”

--With assistance from Katherine Burton.

To contact the reporter on this story: Melissa Karsh in New York at mkarsh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski, Alan Mirabella

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.