Lordstown Motors inventory plunged as a lot as 17% Friday after The Wall Street Journal reported the Justice Division is probing the embattled electric-vehicle start-up.

The inventory was briefly halted attributable to volatility and was down about 10% to roughly $9.30 a share as of midday on Friday in New York.

The report of a DOJ inquiry follows a probe, confirmed earlier this 12 months, by the Securities and Alternate Fee into the corporate and public feedback made by executives, together with its former chairman and CEO Steve Burns.

An organization spokesman declined to touch upon the DOJ probe, however stated in an announcement, “Lordstown Motors is dedicated to cooperating with any regulatory or governmental investigations and inquiries. We look ahead to closing this chapter in order that our new management – and full devoted workforce – can focus solely on producing the primary and greatest full-size all-electric pickup truck, the Lordstown Endurance.”

The DOJ didn’t instantly reply for remark.

Burns and his CFO exited the SPAC-backed company following an inside investigation that discovered “points concerning the accuracy of sure statements” round Lordstown’s preorders, particularly the seriousness of the orders and who was making them.

In Might brief vendor Hindenburg Analysis claimed the corporate misled traders, together with using “fake” orders to boost capital for its Endurance electrical pickup. The brief vendor additionally stated the pickup was years away from manufacturing. Lordstown has maintained it is on observe to begin making the automobile in September.

Lordstown Motors beforehand stated the inner investigation discovered Hindenburg’s report “is, in vital respects, false and deceptive.”