On Monday, Elon Musk tried to convince the court that the famous tweets he published in 2018 regarding his desire to remove Tesla from the stock exchange were not misleading or fraudulent, in contrast to the accusations of investors who say they lost millions of dollars because of it.
The head of Tesla – and Twitter since the end of October – raised a surprise on August 7, 2018 by announcing his intention to withdraw his group from the stock exchange when its share price reaches $ 420.
And Monday, Musk said in front of the San Francisco court where the trial is taking place, “I did not say that it was done, I was just saying that I was looking into it, that I was thinking about it. And in my opinion, the funding was secure.”
Newspaper quotes The New York TimesMonday, that Musk said during his testimony in a federal court that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund “categorically wanted to acquire Tesla and appropriated it in 2018, and confirmed that the fund’s interest in the deal means that he did not lie or misspoke about his plan to remove the automaker from the market.” shares.
Musk’s allegations regarding the Saudi Investment Fund were made during his testimony in court in response to questions from the prosecuting attorney, who pressed him for more details about his plan to privatize the company. Musk said officials from the Saudi fund did not sign commitment documents for a deal and did not discuss the amount they would invest in the deal.
Adding, according to the New York Times, that he was confident that if the Saudis pledged something, they would stick to it.
Last week, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Nicholas Porritt, accused Musk of “lying” and being responsible for investor losses.
Shares of the electric car maker, which rose to $386.48, fell on Aug. 16 to $335.45, according to figures presented to the jury by Judge Edward Shen. And news reports revealed that Musk didn’t really have the money. Tesla remained listed on the stock exchange.
The prosecution sought to show that the Tesla chief had neither the necessary elements nor the authority to make such a controversial announcement, especially on Twitter and during the market opening.
The trial is expected to last three weeks. In a previous ruling related to this case, a judge ruled that the famous 2018 tweet could be considered “false and misleading”.