Musk found not guilty of Tesla tweet fraud

In less than two hours, nine jurors unanimously clear Musk of wrongdoing in a Tesla shareholder class action suit, taken over a tweet in which he said he had “funding secured” to take the electric carmaker private in August 2018. The proposed $72bn (£60bn) buyout never materialised. Sharholders claimed Musk had lied when he tweeted later in the day that “investor support is confirmed”. According to an economist hired by the shareholders, investor losses were calculated as high as $12bn. During the three-week trial, Musk, who took the stand for nearly nine hours, argued he thought he had a verbal commitment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund for the deal.

Musk tweets his thansk to the jurors:

Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed!

I am deeply appreciative of the jury’s unanimous finding of innocence in the Tesla 420 take-private case.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2023