Musk Gets a Question In From the Witness Stand in 'Funding Secured' Securities Trial
In a securities case accusing Musk of lying about securing funds to take Tesla private, he asked a lawyer for the plaintiffs about efforts to subpoena a Saudi official who might be able to answer questions about the deal.
January 24, 2023 at 07:30 AM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Litigation Daily
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., center, departs from court for the SolarCity trial in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., on Monday, July 12, 2021. Photo: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg
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Judges often strike the most interesting exchanges between lawyers and witnesses from the trial record—especially those where the witness starts asking the questions.
That was certainly the case Monday as Elon Musk took the stand for his second day on the stand in the trial centering on his 2018 tweets announcing plans to take Tesla private. Musk began testifying late Friday afternoon in the rare securities class action to make it to trial after being called as an adverse witness by Nicholas Porritt of Levi & Korsinsky who represents a class of thousands of Tesla shareholders. Plaintiffs claim their Tesla stock lost millions—possibly billions—in value after Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured."
Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco found last year that the tweet was reckless and false as well as a follow-up tweet Musk sent just hours later saying: "Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it's contingent on a shareholder vote." Jurors are set to decide whether those statements were material to investors and, if so, what damage they did to the stock value.
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