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| Musk is on trial for fraud over his 2018 tweet |
Elon Musk testified Friday at the trial he faces over Twitter in 2018 claiming he secured "secured funding" to take Tesla private, shareholders said, alleging the tweet caused millions of dollars in property damage.
Defending himself in federal court in San Francisco, the Tesla CEO said, "Just because I tweeted something doesn't mean people have to believe it and take action."
Musk's testimony in court began with questions about his use of Twitter, the social media platform he purchased last October. He called it the most democratic form of communication, but said his tweets don't always affect Tesla's stock the way he expected.
The class action lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco centers on allegations that the Tesla CEO lied about tweets costing investors money.
Earlier Friday morning, investor Timothy Fries told a jury that he lost $5,000 buying Tesla stock after Musk's tweets.
Notably, the case is a rare class-action lawsuit in the securities field, and prosecutors have cleared major legal hurdles since U.S. Judge Edward Chen ruled last year that Musk's tweets were dishonest and reckless.
Yesterday, Musk's testimony lasted about 30 minutes, before the court adjourned the session until Monday. He reportedly spoke calmly, and at times flustered, in stark contrast to his aggressive statements in previous trials.
In his "Funding Secured" tweet, Musk discussed the difficulties the company has faced, including short sellers who are betting that Tesla shares will drop. “A bunch of Wall Street pawnshops want Tesla dead,” he said, describing short sellers who profit when the stock goes down.
Alex Spiro, Musk's attorney, told the jury in the opening statement Wednesday that Musk believes he has received money from Saudi backers and will take steps to complete the deal. Fearing press leaks, Musk tried to protect his "daily contributors" by posting tweets with "technical errors."
Yohan Subramanian, a professor at Harvard Law School, told the jury that Musk's behavior in 2018 lacked the hallmarks of a traditional corporate agreement, namely showing interest in Tesla without proper financial or legal analysis.
A nine-member panel will decide whether the tweet artificially inflated Tesla's share price by improving the financing case for the deal, and if so, how much of an impact it had.