The billionaire’s lawyer told jurors in San Francisco that Musk simply used the “wrong words” when he shared his claim that he had “secured” funding to take Tesla private on Twitter.
Elon Musk “lied” when he claimed he had “secured” financing to take Tesla private, a lawyer for the investor told a court.
The company’s chief executive wrote in 2018 that he had “secured” financing to take the electric car maker private and later that investor support was “confirmed”, causing the stock to drop and then rise.
Less than three weeks later, Musk backed out of the plan.
Tesla investor Glen Littleton is seeking compensation for shareholders who bought or sold shares in the days after the tweets, claiming Musk’s tweets cost him “millions”.
However, Musk’s lawyers argued in court that the billionaire simply used the “wrong word” when he tweeted about the plan.
During the opening statement, Nicholas Porritt, the main lawyer for the investors, told the jury in San Francisco that “millions of dollars were lost when [Musk’s] the lie has been exposed”.
But Alex Spiro, who represents Musk, said the billionaire was “serious” about taking the company private in 2018, but ultimately faced shareholder opposition.
“You will quickly learn that this is not a scam, not even close,” he told jurors.
But the lawyer told jurors that Musk’s Twitter posts contained several “technical errors”.
“In his haste, he used the wrong word,” he told the court.
Littleton, giving testimony to the court, said that he had invested in Tesla in 2015.
He said after seeing Musk’s “guaranteed funding” post he had scrambled to exit his Tesla options position, which the tweet said was unprofitable.
A jury of nine will decide whether Musk’s tweets artificially inflated Tesla’s stock price by playing up the financing status of the deal, and if so, by how much.
The trial will continue Friday with expert witnesses and possibly Musk taking the stand.
The judge, Edward Chen, rejected Musk’s request to have the case moved to Texas last week, with the billionaire expressing concern that potential jurors in California would be biased against him.
He cited negative media coverage of the thousands of jobs that have been cut at Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, after it took over the social media platform last October.
A jury will be tasked with deciding whether Musk’s tweets affected investors, whether he acted intentionally, and whether damages should be awarded.
Judge Chen has ruled that the claims made by the SpaceX owner are untrue, but the defendants will argue that they had good reason to believe that financing to take Tesla private was secured.
Source: Skynews.com
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