Gregory Reichow, a Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) vice president, cashed in 21 percent of his executive stock options, selling 15,000 Tesla shares when the company's shares were in freefall just three days after the electric car maker posted lackluster third quarter earnings . His profit on the transaction was $1.6 million.

According to a Tesla filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission posted after markets closed on Wednesday, Reichlow, the head of Tesla’s powertrain manufacturing, bought the shares on Nov. 8 at a strike price of $25.27 and immediately sold them for $133.28. Between the earnings report on November 5 and Reichow's sale, Tesla's shares had fallen nearly 22 percent.

Reichow still holds options for to buy 55,816 shares of Tesla's stock. Since the Reichow transaction, Tesla’s stock has dropped another 1.8 percent.

On Nov. 5, Telsa reported a net loss of $38.5 million, or 32 cents per share, on $431.4 million in revenue for its third quarter ended Sept. 30. Tesla’s adjusted earnings was $15.9 million, or 12 cents a share, on $602.6 million in revenue.