Diver Vernon Unsworth, who has been involved in a fierce, public spat with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, revealed late Monday new details about what he referred to as the tech giant chief's intervention during the intense rescue in Thailand that involved 12 young, soccer players and their coach.
According to CNBC, Unsworth filed a lengthy defamation lawsuit against Musk late Monday, with transcripts and emails unraveling the extent of "intervention" the Tesla CEO had done during the Thailand rescue mission.
Unsworth's filing revealed that Musk asked his team to pressure several foreign officials in Thailand to be positive on their comments about him during the life-threatening rescue mission of the young boys and their coach.
The legal team for Unsworth, led by L. Lin Wood, said Musk's accusations against Unsworth are "false, defamatory, and were published negligently and with actual malice." Wood referred to the Tesla CEO's move last month of asking the court to dismiss Unsworth's case against him.
Musk and Unsworth started rubbing shoulders during last year's harrowing rescue of the 12 soccer players in a cave in Thailand. At that time, Musk said his company was working on a pod that could assist in the rescue mission.
Unsworth said of Musk's suggestion that the mini-submarine being developed by Tesla would not be of help to the rescue. Musk then took to social media to express his angst over the spelunker and professional diver's comments.
A regional Thai official said that while Musk's idea was "technologically sophisticated," it wouldn't play a role in getting inside the cave to rescue the stranded soccer team. He added that the pod was impractical.
The new details regarding Musk's efforts to get involved in the Thailand rescue mission came less than a week after BuzzFeed News reported that Musk hired James Howard-Higgins, a self-proclaimed private investigator and convicted felon, to look into potential dirt in Unsworth's records.
Aside from the defamation lawsuit, Musk also has internal issues to resolve. Tesla stocks slumped 28 percent this year, not to mention the details revealed by former employees who worked with the visionary.
Nine former Tesla employees told Business Insider earlier this month that while the electric vehicle (EV) expert was undeniably an intellect, he could be intimidating sometimes. Two former senior workers said there were instances people feared to approach Musk about contradicting ideas.
Another employee said Musk inspired his staff to be better than who they were before, while another revealed that the Tesla chief would put a suggestion he liked to good use.
