Former director of Tesla Australia pleads guilty to insider trading

(Reuters) -A former director of Tesla Inc's Australian unit pleaded guilty to two counts of insider trading tied to a supply deal the carmaker signed with Piedmont Lithium in 2020, the country's corporate watchdog said on Wednesday.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said Kurt Schlosser bought 86,748 shares in U.S.-based Piedmont in September 2020 after being informed of details of the five-year spodumene concentrate supply deal.

The ASIC said Schlosser then sold his Piedmont shares for a profit of roughly $28,883 once the agreement became public and the stock price rose.

Schlosser, who pleaded guilty at a court in Sydney, also communicated information about the deal to a friend, knowing that his friend would be likely to acquire Piedmont shares, the ASIC said.

Piedmont Lithium said it does "not comment on the legal proceedings of individuals or other companies".

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Savio D'Souza and Anil D'Silva)

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