Complete Solaria Complains of Short-Seller Attack After Issuing Options

By Dean Seal

Complete Solaria said its shares were subjected to a short attack after it announced its first major employee stock option program.

The solar company said Thursday that nameless investors dumped 17.7 times the usual trading volume of its shares on April 15, nearly cutting the company's share price in half from 50 cents to 26 cents at market close.

The selloff was deliberately aimed at hurting the company's share price, Chairman T.J. Rodgers said in a memo to employees.

On the Friday before the alleged attack, Complete Solaria said it had granted 2.1 million options to its 110 employees. The options were granted at a market price of 51 cents, meaning the attack has "put all employee options under water," Rodgers said.

Rodgers said Thursday that the company will request an investigation into the selloff from securities regulators.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com