Tesla shareholders sued Elon Musk over his controversial tweet that he has “secured” funding to take back Tesla in 2018. A group of investors says that he does not have it and SEC and federal judge agree.
Musk made claims that shareholders thought were false at that time he wanted to take back his company. They believe he is doing it again as he is trying to take over Twitter.
The shareholders also said a federal judge found that Musk’s 2018 tweets in which he claimed to have the funding to take Tesla, private, were false and misleading. Musk eventually settled with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over the tweets, stepping down as Tesla chairman and agreeing to oversight of his social media use.
“I was forced [to lie] to save Tesla’s life and that’s the only reason,” Musk said at the TED conference in Vancouver Thursday. He went on to compare the experience to having someone point a gun at his child’s head.
Investors sued the billionaire, alleging Musk’s tweets “caused significant confusion and disruption in the market for Tesla’s stock and resulting harm to investors.”
Tesla investors are content that Elon Musk knowingly made the false claims. US District Judge Edward M. Chen said “no reasonable jury could find Musk’s tweets on August 7, 2018 accurate or not misleading.”
“Despite the findings by this Court, the SEC, and his own written consent, Musk has engaged in a high-profile public campaign to present a contradictory and false narrative,” according to the filing.
The motion for the restraining order comes after Musk said publicly at a TED Conference that he did not lie in his 2018 tweet.