A California jury ruled that Elon Musk made misleading statements that harmed Twitter shareholders during his takeover bid, potentially exposing him to billions in damages.
A California jury has found Elon Musk liable for misleading statements that defrauded shareholders of Twitter during the lead-up to his $44 billion acquisition of the platform. The verdict in the class action case Pampena v. Musk could expose him to damages of up to $2.6 billion, according to attorneys representing investors.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2022, alleged that Musk’s tweets questioning the number of fake and spam accounts on the platform caused the company’s stock price to drop sharply. A jury ruled that his May 13 and May 17 tweets were materially false or misleading, prompting some investors to sell shares below the $54.20 buyout price.
Lawyers for shareholders welcomed the verdict, saying it showed powerful executives cannot mislead investors. Musk’s legal team, however, said they viewed the outcome as “a bump in the road” and planned to challenge it on appeal. Jurors also concluded that while some statements were misleading, Musk did not carry out a specific scheme to defraud investors.
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