Chief Executive Elon Musk has now put Tesla in the crosshairs of a federal criminal investigation because of surprise comments he made in August that he had secured funding to take the company private.

A Tesla spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Justice made a voluntary request for documents last month, following Musk’s announcement, and said in a statement that the electric car maker “has been cooperative in responding to it.” Bloomberg reported that the probe is for criminal fraud, but Tesla did not address that report.

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Whether Musk’s “funding secured” tweet constitutes criminal fraud depends on how the DOJ investigators interpret the CEO’s comments, said Joseph Grundfest, a Stanford Law School professor of law and business, and a former Securities and Exchange Commissioner.

“It makes all the sense in the world for the DOJ to look into this, and I would have been surprised if it hadn’t,” Grundfest said. “The question is did he intentionally make a false statement with an intent to deceive.”

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Despite news of the DOJ investigation, Grundfest cautioned against a rush to judgment. “There’s a huge world of difference between the DOJ asking for information and determining a crime has been committed.”