If the nine-person jury decides to hold him liable for misleading Tesla shareholders during a 10-day period in August 2018 for the funding secured tweet and a follow-up tweet indicating a deal was imminent, Musk and Tesla could be on the hook for billions in damages.
Those 2018 tweets already have cost Musk and Tesla US$40 million (NZ$63m) to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations of misconduct. Chen had decided last year that Musk’s 2018 tweets were false and has instructed the jury to view them that way.
During roughly eight hours on the stand, Musk insisted he believed he had lined up the funds from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private after eight years as a publicly held company.
He defended his initial August 2018 tweet as a well-intentioned communication to ensure all Tesla investors knew the automaker might be on its way to ending its then-eight-year run as a publicly held company.
“I had no ill motive,” Musk testified. “My intent was to do the right thing for all shareholders.”
The jury is expected to begin its deliberations in the afternoon after the closing arguments are finished. - AP
