Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his security staff leave the company’s local office in Washington, January 27, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Elon Musk and Tesla were found not liable by a jury in San Francisco federal court on Friday in a class-action securities fraud trial stemming from tweets that Musk made in 2009. 2018.
The TeslaSpaceX and Twitter The CEO is sued by Tesla shareholders through a series tweets he wrote in August 2018 said that he had “secured the capital” to take the automaker private at $420 a share and that “investor support” for such a deal had be confirm”. Trading at Tesla has been suspended after his tweet and its stock price remained volatile for weeks.
The jurors deliberated for less than two hours before reading their verdict. “We are disappointed with the ruling and are considering next steps,” said Nicholas Porritt, partner at Levi & Korsinski, which represents shareholders in the class action.
“I appreciate the jury’s unanimous conclusion,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
“He didn’t think ahead in that rush that this could be interpreted differently and what it would mean to him,” Musk’s attorney told the jury earlier on Friday. “At the time, he didn’t think, ‘how can my words be interpreted by you differently from what it means to me.'”
“You have to judge this in context – he’s considering keeping it private and the issue is whether it really moves it forward,” Musk’s attorney said. “No fraud has ever been built on consideration.”
Musk’s chief adviser did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shareholders in the certified class action include both stock and options buyers, who allege that Musk’s tweets were reckless and untrue, and relied on statements by Musk. him to make decisions about when to buy or sell cost them a significant amount of money.
Musk later stated that he had a verbal commitment from Saudi Arabia Sovereign Wealth Fundand thought the funding would come at his suggested price based on a handshake. However, the deal never materialized.
During this test, Gunner also said he will sell shares of SpaceX to fund an ongoing private deal for Tesla, as well as receive money from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
