Jury clears Elon Musk of wrongdoing related to 2018 Tesla tweets
A jury on Friday decided Elon Musk didn바카라 게임 웹사이트t deceive investors with his 2018 tweets about electric automaker Tesla.
The verdict by the nine jurors was reached after less than two hours of deliberation following a three-week trial and represented a major vindication for Musk.
The trial pitted Tesla investors represented in a class-action lawsuit against Musk, who is CEO of both the electric automaker and the Twitter service he bought for $44 billion a few months ago.
In 2018, Musk tweeted that he had the financing to take Tesla private even though it turned out he hadn바카라 게임 웹사이트t gotten an iron-clad commitment for an aborted deal that would have cost $20 billion to $70 billion to pull off.
Musk's integrity was at stake at the trial as well part of a fortune that has established him as one of the world바카라 게임 웹사이트s richest people. He could have been saddled had the jury found him liable for the 2018 tweets that had already been deemed falsehoods by the judge presiding over the trial.
Earlier Friday, Musk sat stoically in court, while he was both vilified as a rich narcissist whose reckless behavior risks 바카라 게임 웹사이트anarchy바카라 게임 웹사이트 and hailed as a visionary looking out for the 바카라 게임 웹사이트little guy" in closing the trial's arguments.
The trial hinged on whether Musk's tweeting in 2018 misled Tesla shareholders, steering them in a direction that they argue cost them billions of dollars. The civil case centered on two tweets Musk posted Aug. 7, 2018 about a Tesla buyout that never happened.
The first tweet, posted just before he boarded his private jet, Musk declared he had to take Tesla private. A few hours later, Musk sent indicating that the deal was imminent.
The tweets caused Twitter바카라 게임 웹사이트s stock to surge during a 10-day period covered by the lawsuit before falling back after Musk abandoned a deal in which he never had a firm financing commitment, based on evidence presented during the three-week trial.
Musk's decision to show up for the closing arguments 바카라 게임 웹사이트 even though his presence wasn't required 바카라 게임 웹사이트 underscored the importance of the trial바카라 게임 웹사이트s outcome to him.
Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer for the Tesla shareholders, urged the jurors to rebuke Musk for his 바카라 게임 웹사이트loose relationship with the truth.바카라 게임 웹사이트
바카라 게임 웹사이트Our society is based on rules,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Porritt said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트We need rules to save us from anarchy. Rules should apply to Elon Musk like everyone else.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Alex Spiro, Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s attorney, conceded the 2018 tweets were 바카라 게임 웹사이트technically inaccurate.바카라 게임 웹사이트 But he told the jurors, 바카라 게임 웹사이트Just because it바카라 게임 웹사이트s a bad tweet doesn바카라 게임 웹사이트t make it a fraud.바카라 게임 웹사이트
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, who presided over the trial, decided last year that Musk바카라 게임 웹사이트s 2018 tweets and has instructed the jury to view them that way.
During roughly eight hours on the stand earlier in the trial, Musk insisted he believed he had lined up the funds from Saudi Arabia바카라 게임 웹사이트s Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private after eight years as a publicly held company. He his initial August 2018 tweet as well-intentioned and aimed at ensuring all Tesla investors knew the automaker might be on its way to ending its run as a publicly held company.
바카라 게임 웹사이트I had no ill motive,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Musk testified. 바카라 게임 웹사이트My intent was to do the right thing for all shareholders.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Spiro echoed that theme in his closing argument.
바카라 게임 웹사이트He was trying to include the retail shareholder, the mom and pop, the little guy, and not seize more power for himself," Spiro said.
Porritt, meanwhile, scoffed at the notion that Musk could have concluded he had a firm commitment after a 45-minute meeting at a Tesla factory on July 31, 2018, with Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia바카라 게임 웹사이트s wealth fund, given there was no written documentation.
A text message that al-Rumayyan sent later in August that is part of the trial evidence also indicated that the Saudi fund was only interested in learning more about Musk's proposal to take Tesla private at a time the company was valued at about $60 billion.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Apparently a $60 billion financing commitment was obtained and no one wrote down a single word," Porritt said, while asserting that amount was larger than the combined economic output of Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Elon Musk apparently thinks it is easier to get billions of dollars in financing than an auto loan or a mortgage," Pollitt added.
Spiro, though, pointed to Musk's track record helping to start and run a list of companies that include digital payment pioneer PayPal and rocket ship maker SpaceX, in addition to Tesla. The automaker based in Austin, Texas, is now worth nearly $600 billion, despite a steep decline in its stock price last year amid concerns that Musk's purchase of Twitter would distract him from Tesla.
Recalling Musk's roots as a South African immigrant who came to Silicon Valley to create revolutionary tech companies, Spiro described his client 바카라 게임 웹사이트as the kind of person who believes the impossible is possible."
Porritt put a different twist on Musk's mindset during his presentation. 바카라 게임 웹사이트To Elon Musk, if he believes it, or just thinks about it, it's true.바카라 게임 웹사이트
In his concluding remarks, Porritt told jurors their decision will boil down to their answer to one question: 바카라 게임 웹사이트Do the rules apply to everyone, or can Elon Musk do whatever he wants and not face the consequences?"