Jury finds Elon Musk misled investors during Twitter purchase, absolves him of some fraud claims

A jury has determined that Elon Musk defrauded investors by deliberately lowering Twitter’s stock price in the months leading up to his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company in 2022. However, the jury did not find that Musk “schemed” to mislead investors. The civil trial centered on whether two tweets and comments made by Musk on a podcast in May 2022 constituted intentional fraud against Twitter shareholders who sold their shares based on his statements.

The jurors were tasked with assessing if Musk’s actions intentionally drove down the stock price. While found liable for misleading investors, he was absolved of the more serious allegation of actively scheming to defraud them. The case stemmed from a class-action lawsuit filed shortly before Musk took control of Twitter, which he later rebranded as X.

The trial involved examining Musk’s statements and their impact on investors. The jury’s decision highlights the complexities of balancing free speech with financial responsibility, particularly for high-profile figures like Musk and the potential consequences of public statements on stock values.

(Source：The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)