Elon Musk won a court case in which shareholders accused the billionaire of making false public statements with the potential to harm Tesla investors, after the company’s CEO stated, on his Twitter profile, that he had the “guaranteed funding” to close the automaker’s capital.
The result was announced on Friday (3) in federal court in San Francisco after a three-week trial, in a victory for the billionaire.
The nine-person jury took just under two hours to reach a unanimous decision, vindicating Musk’s decision to go to trial rather than settle.
“Thank God, the wisdom of the people prevailed!” Musk wrote on Twitter after the verdict. “I am deeply grateful for the jury’s unanimous conclusion of not guilty in the case.”
Outside the courtroom, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said: “The jury was right.”
Representing “thousands” of Tesla investors in the class action, lead counsel Nicholas Porritt framed the case as an important test of rules and regulations for financial markets and society at large, during closing arguments on Friday.
“Rules that apply to everyone should apply to Elon Musk,” Porritt said. “Elon Musk posted tweets that were false, with reckless disregard for the truth, and those tweets did damage to investors. A lot of damage.”
He concluded: “Every business in the country is watching.”
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