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Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman behind Tesla and SpaceX, and the owner of Twitter.
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He was the richest man in the world, with 277 thousand 300 million dollars.
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Most of this bulky portfolio has been won in the last year.
This Tuesday it was announced that the billionaire Elon Musk will return to court this week for a legal confrontation with the shareholders of Tesla, who allege their infamous 2018 tweet about “secured financing” cost them a fortune.
According to what was published by the NY Post, the trial for the class action begins on Tuesday with the selection of the jury. in federal court in San Francisco, so Musk is expected to take the stand as a star witness during the trial.
With this lawsuit, Tesla shareholders are seeking unspecified financial damages. The plaintiffs allege that Musk caused billions of dollars in losses with the January 7, 2018 tweet, in which he claimed to have “insured funds” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The alleged deal never materialized.
Musk is already at a disadvantage in the trial, as District Court Judge Edward Chen, who is presiding over the case, It ruled last April that the South African’s tweet and other posts on the subject were “false and misleading” and that the billionaire acted “recklessly given his clear knowledge of the discussions.”
Chen also determined that there was “nothing concrete” to support Musk’s claims that he had secured a deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund at the time. Musk has denied any wrongdoing and argued that he participated in actual discussions with potential investors about the privatization deal.
The jurors will assess whether Musk’s actions directly caused financial harm, which could put the Tesla CEO in jeopardy for a significant payout to affected shareholders.
Last week, Chen canceled an attempt by Musk’s lawyers to move the San Francisco trial site to a federal court in Texas.
Musk’s team claimed the potential jury pool in the city was skewed due to the polarizing response to his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which is based in San Francisco.
Lawyers for Tesla shareholders had opposed the transfer request, saying Musk was a “celebrity” whose actions attract intense scrutiny regardless of venue.
“For better or worse, Musk is a celebrity who attracts worldwide media attention,” lawyers for the shareholders said in a court filing.
“Only his Twitter footprint is partially to blame for that. If ‘negative’ attention were all that was required to disqualify a group of jurors, Musk would be impossible to try before a jury given his ability to attract ‘negative’ coverage, ”they add.
The jury candidates were asked to answer a series of questions about their views on Musk, including whether they owned Tesla vehicles.
Likewise, Musk’s 2018 tweet drew scrutiny from the SEC, which ultimately slapped the billionaire and Tesla with separate findings of $20 million. The owner of Twitter was also obliged to enter a consent decree in which his tweets and other public communications had to be pre-approved by the company’s lawyers.
Musk has since claimed that he was forced to accept the SEC settlement. In a separate legal battle, the billionaire asked a judge to strike down the consent decree.
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