On Friday, Twitter, Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk was found not guilty of fraud charges brought against him.
The charges were brought against him after he previously had tweeted about taking Twitter private.
The New York Times reported:
A jury decided Friday that Elon Musk was not liable for losses suffered by investors after he posted messages on Twitter that he had secured the funding to take Tesla private in 2018.
Investors had sued Mr. Musk, Tesla and the company’s board, arguing that Mr. Musk’s statements about his embryonic plan to take the electric car company private had devastating financial consequences for them. But in a federal civil trial over the last three weeks, lawyers for Tesla and Mr. Musk, the car company’s chief executive, have argued that he was such a successful businessman that he could have easily obtained financing to take Tesla private.
On August 7, 2018, Musk wrote on Twitter: “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured,” Musk wrote at the time. “Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote.”
If Musk had lost the case, he would have been forced to pay billions of dollars in damages.
“The jury got it right,” Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro said after the verdict was read. “That’s all I’m going to say.”
“Funding was not an issue,” Mr. Spiro added. He also noted that the original deal collapsed because “his motive was to do right for the shareholders.”
