Tesla CEO Elon Musk took the witness stand on Monday to defend himself against allegations that he committed securities fraud and cost shareholders money.
Elon Musk told a San Francisco federal court on Monday that he could have sold shares of SpaceX to take Tesla private in 2018. He was then, and still is, the CEO and largest shareholder of both companies.
Musk is being sued by Tesla shareholders for a series of tweets he wrote in August 2018 saying he had « funding secured » to take the automaker private for $420 per share, and that « investor support » for such a deal was « confirmed. » Trading in Tesla was halted after his tweets, and its share price remained volatile for weeks.
The shareholders in the certified class action lawsuit allege that Musk’s tweets were reckless and false, and relying on his statements to make investment decisions cost them significant amounts of money.
Musk would later claim that he had a verbal commitment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and was sure that funding would come through at his proposed price based on a handshake. However, the deal never materialized.
