A Canadian citizen, Nima Kalbasi, a former Tesla Motors mechanical engineer, is facing federal charges including two counts of felony computer intrusion, and one count of misdemeanor computer intrusion.

According to a FBI release, Kalbasi accessed his former manager's email account and got his hands on communications regarding Tesla employee evaluations and other confidential information. He gave the information to other employees as well as made it public on a public website where he made "false and misleading comments," in an effort to damage Tesla's reputation and credibility.

After he was terminated in December, he obtained his former manager’s user name and password and accessed the manager’s email account about 297 times, according to the indictment.

Kalbasi was arrested in Derby Lane, Vt. by the Customs and Border Protection when he was crossing the Canadian border. He faces 5 years for the felony charges and one year for the misdemeanor charge.

Source: SCMAgazine