Jury rules Elon Musk deceived Twitter investors. Nine hours earlier. Kali Hays, technology reporter for Reuters. A jury in San Francisco federal court ruled that Elon Musk made intentionally misleading public statements during a key phase of his 2022 Twitter acquisition. After two days of deliberation, the unanimous verdict favored Twitter investors who sued, claiming they relied on his comments. Musk testified earlier this month that he didn’t deceive anyone and that people overinterpreted his tweets and remarks. However, the jury determined that his assertions about issues with Twitter’s user metrics and his potential withdrawal from the $44 billion deal were deliberately deceptive. Musk’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did the investors’ lawyers, led by Brian Belgrave, an Oregon small-business owner. This is not the first time Musk has faced legal trouble over his tweets. However, he successfully defeated a 2023 lawsuit from Tesla shareholders who alleged the CEO had deceived them through his posts about the automaker. In Friday’s ruling, the San Francisco jury determined that Musk had artificially depressed Twitter’s stock price by $3 to $8 per share from May to October 2022 due to his public remarks. This could result in thousands of dollars in damages for each investor in the class action. Monte Mann, a business litigation attorney at Armstrong Teasdale, stated that the verdict against Musk “sends a clear message”: “If you influence the market with your words, you bear the consequences.” Starting in May 2022, Musk began tweeting about Twitter’s alleged problems with fake accounts, or “bots,” declared the deal “on hold,” and later announced he wanted to back out completely. Twitter sued Musk to compel the multibillionaire to honor the agreement, and in early October, he complied, acquiring Twitter at the original agreed price. The following year, he rebranded the social media platform as X. Those months were financially harmful to Twitter investors like Belgrave, who traded shares in the company during that period. Earlier this month, Belgrave testified to the jury that he sold thousands of Twitter shares in July 2022, convinced by Musk’s public statements and comments that the acquisition was off. Belgrave sold at a price below what he had paid just months before, and far under the $54.20 per share Musk ultimately paid. “I got screwed,” Belgrave remarked.
