Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been cleared of fraud claims by a San Francisco federal jury which found him not liable for his unexpected tweet of 2018 when the billionaire tweeted that he planned to take the company private.
Musk, who is also SpaceX and Twitter CEO, had been accused of defrauding the investors of the company when he tweeted about his plans to take Tesla private and having ‘funding secured’ to go ahead with it.
After the jury’s verdict, Musk thanked and wrote on Twitter, “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”
In courtroom, the jury deliberated for hours and came to a conclusion that neither Musk or the Tesla board did not perpetrated any fraud as far as the tweet is concerned.
The verdict rejected allegations that Musk had violated securities laws, and set aside the demand asking the Tesla CEO to pay billions of dollars in damages.
Plaintiffs were putting forth the point that the tweet cost Tesla shareholders $12 billion in capital losses.
Musk had tweeted on August 7, 2018: “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”
In another matter, the Tesla boss is still awaiting a court ruling in a Delaware case in which investors are suing the company over his $55 billion compensation package.
