A US jury found Elon Musk and Tesla not liable in a case of securities fraud in a pair of tweets that he funding secured to take the electric carmaker private, a claim that investors argued cost them billions of dollars.
Musk's ability to tweet broadly was defended by the decision, as he fought any charges that he was guilty of.
The outcome comes after a three-week trial pitting Tesla investors in a class-action lawsuit against Musk, who is CEO of both Tesla and Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion a few months ago.
After three hours of arguments ended up on Friday, a nine-person jury began its deliberations and returned its verdict shortly after. Musk posted on August 7th, 2018 about a Tesla buyout that never happened.
Musk posted the first tweet just before he boarded his private jet, saying he had funding secured to take Tesla private. Musk sent a tweet indicating that the deal was imminent, a few hours later.
The tweets caused Telsa's stock to surge during a 10 day period covered by the lawsuit before falling back after Musk abandoned a deal that he never had a firm financing commitment, based on evidence presented during the three-week trial.
Musk appeared in court on Friday for closing arguments, even though his presence wasn't required, underscoring the importance of the trial's outcome. In closing statements he was both vilified as a rich narcissist whose reckless behavior risks anarchy and hailed as a visionary looking out for the little guy Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer for the Tesla shareholders, and urged the jurors to rebuke Musk for his loose relationship with the truth Our society is based on rules, Porritt said. Elon Musk has rules that should apply like everyone else. Alex Spiro, Musk's attorney, admitted that the tweets were technically inaccurate in 2018 but he told the jurors: Just because it is a bad tweet doesn't make it a fraud. US District Judge Edward Chen, who presided over the trial, decided last year that Musk's tweets in 2018 were false and that he has instructed the jury to view them that way.
Musk claimed earlier in the trial that he believed he had lined up the funds from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private after eight years as a publicly held company. He defended his initial August 2018 tweet as well-intentioned and aimed at ensuring all Tesla investors knew that the automaker might be on its way to ending its run as a publicly held company.
Musk testified that there was no ill motive. I wanted to do the right thing for all shareholders. Porritt told jurors that their decision will boil down to their answer to one question: Do the rules apply to everyone, or can Elon Musk do whatever he wants and not face the consequences?