{"id":386,"date":"2023-02-04T00:06:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-04T00:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/musk-found-not-guilty-of-fraud-over-tesla-tweet\/"},"modified":"2023-02-04T00:06:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T00:06:54","slug":"musk-found-not-guilty-of-fraud-over-tesla-tweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/musk-found-not-guilty-of-fraud-over-tesla-tweet\/","title":{"rendered":"Musk found not guilty of fraud over Tesla tweet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Musk found not guilty of fraud over Tesla tweet<\/p>\n

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\"Elon<\/picture><\/span>EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Tesla founder Elon Musk has been cleared of wrongdoing for a tweet in which he said he had “funding secured” to take the electric carmaker private.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Musk faced a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Tesla shareholders who argued he misled them with his posts in August 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The proposed $72bn (\u00a360bn) buyout never materialised.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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If the San Francisco jury had found Mr Musk liable he could have been ordered to pay billions of dollars in damages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It took the nine jurors less than two hours to reach their verdict on Friday afternoon. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Central to the lawsuit was Mr Musk’s tweet on 7 August 2018 that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share, and had “funding secured”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The plaintiffs also argued Mr Musk had lied when he tweeted later in the day that “investor support is confirmed”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The stock price surged after the tweets, but fell back again within days as it became clear the deal would not go through.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Investor losses were calculated as high as $12bn, according to an economist hired by the shareholders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Mr Musk over his tweets, accusing him of lying to investors. He and Tesla settled for $20m each.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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During the three-week trial, Mr Musk – who also leads SpaceX and Twitter – had argued he thought he had a verbal commitment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund for the deal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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During his nearly nine hours on the witness stand, the world’s second-richest man said: “Just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In closing arguments earlier on Friday, he sat in court listening as duelling portraits were drawn of him by the rival legal teams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer for the Tesla shareholders, said: “Our society is based on rules. We need rules to save us from anarchy. Rules should apply to Elon Musk like everyone else.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said: “Just because it’s a bad tweet doesn’t make it a fraud.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More on this story<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n