Elon Musk didn’t lie, he just used “wrong words” in his Tesla funding tweet, his lawyer says.

  • Elon Musk didn’t lie, but used the “wrong words” in his infamous Tesla funding tweet, his lawyer claims.
  • “Very soon you will know that this was not a scam, not even close,” said Alex Spiro.
  • Tesla shareholders are suing the billionaire CEO over a tweet alleging Musk manipulated the electric car maker’s share price.

Elon Musk didn’t lie, but used “wrong words” in his Tesla funding tweet, his lawyer said in court.

This was reported by several media outlets.

The lawsuit against Tesla’s CEO began on Wednesday over his 2018 tweet that he was “funded” to take the electric car maker private at $420 a share. However, the deal never took place and cost the company’s shareholders millions of dollars.

Tesla investors have filed a class-action lawsuit against Musk, alleging that the billionaire manipulated the electric car maker’s share price with his infamous tweet. That’s because the automaker’s shares surged 11% in the hours following Musk’s disclosure and then tumbled as the deal was called into question.

However, Musk did not commit fraud, his lawyer Alex Spiro said in opening statements at the trial. “Very soon you will know that this was not a scam, not even close,” Spiro said, according to Reuters.

“In the rush, he used the wrong words,” Spiro continued, adding that “he didn’t plan on posting this on Twitter.”

Musk has previously claimed that he believes he received funding from a Saudi Arabian investment fund. He said he had a handshake with the fund to provide Tesla with the money it needed to be delisted from the S&P 500. To prevent the news from leaking, Musk made a “split-second decision” to tweet that the funding was secured, Spiro claimed.

But lawyers representing Tesla shareholders said Musk should be convicted. “When the CEO of a public company like Tesla lies about his company and harms investors, it’s critical that he be held accountable for the harm he causes,” chief lawyer Nicholas Porritt said in an opening statement, according to the Financial Times. . .

“Because of his lies, ordinary people like Glen Littleton lost millions and millions of dollars,” he said. Littleton, who represents Tesla shareholders suing Musk, also joined the case during the trial.

“The whole time I was in shock,” Littleton told jurors. “Funding is secured for me so definitely. That was the main driving force,” he added.

“It was a threat to my existence,” he continued.

Musk has attracted a lot of attention in the past with his sporadic tweets, and market commentators like Paul Krugman say it hurts Tesla’s brand image.

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