As Tesla shareholders alleged in August 2018, Mr. Musk misled them with his posts, leading to a lawsuit filed on their behalf. Despite the $72 billion (£60 billion) buyout, it never materialized. Defending Musk could have meant he had to pay billions in damages if the jury found him guilty. The nine jurors reached their verdict in just under two hours on Friday.
Having argued he couldn’t get a fair trial in San Francisco, Musk wanted the trial moved to Texas, where Tesla is headquartered. A tweet from Musk on 7 August 2018 indicated that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420, which led to the lawsuit. As the stock price soared after Musk’s tweets, it fell back again within days as it became clear the deal would not go through.
In addition, the plaintiffs argued Musk lied when he tweeted later that investor support had been confirmed. A shareholder-hired economist estimated that investor losses could total $12 billion. Mr. Musk settled with the SEC for $20 million after agreeing to step down as Tesla board chairman and accusing him of lying to investors over his tweets. The SEC sued him for lying to investors.
