Chief Accounting Officer of Tesla Leaves the Company

Chief Accounting Officer of Tesla has exited the company, the latest on a string of management departures from the electric-car maker.

According to a regulatory filing, Eric Branderiz, who also served as a corporate controller, departed Tesla on Tuesday due to personal reasons. Branderiz joined the company as the chief accounting officer back in 2016, while the company was in the midst of a controversial acquisition of SolarCity for $2.6 billion.

“Tesla appreciates Eric’s service to the company,” stated the company in the filing on Thursday. Meanwhile a spokesperson of the company declined to comment further.

The departure of Branderiz follows a spate of high-level management departures, such as Jon McNeill, president of global sales and service; Diarmuid O’Connell, vice president of business development; and Kurt Kelty, director of batter technology. Also, Jason Wheeler, Chief Financial Officer, left the company last year.

Tesla, on the other hand, lists its dependence on Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, as a risk factor in securities filing and let shareholders vote next month on an equity award valued at $2.6 billion intended at keeping Musk with the automaker for the long term.

Meanwhile, the shares of Tesla went down as much as 1.9 percent after the close of regular trading.

Musk Complains to President Trump about Car Tariffs

In other news, Elon Musk is complaining to U.S. President Donald Trump about the car tariffs in China.

In response to Trump’s tweet about trade in China, Musk said “Do you think the US & China should have equal & fair rules for cars? Meaning, same import duties, ownership constraints & other factors.”

“I am against import duties in general, but the current rules make things very difficult. It's like competing in an Olympic race wearing lead shoes,” Musk stated.

The CEO of Tesla stated that China has putted a 25 percent import duty on American cars, while the U.S. only does 2.5 percent for Chinese vehicles. Musk also added that no American automaker is “allowed to own even 50% of their own factory” in China, while auto firms in the Asian country can own their companies in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Trump has responded to the tweets of Musk at his press conference about his steel and aluminum tariffs.

“We are going to be doing a reciprocal tax program at some point, so that if China is going to charge us 25% or if India is going to charge us 75% and we charge them nothing ... We're going to be at those same numbers. It's called reciprocal, a mirror tax.” stated Trump.

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