In a San Francisco federal courtroom earlier this week, a jury was told its job isn’t to determine whether Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 tweets about taking the company private were false.

• Rather, the group must decide on his state of mind at the time.

Why it matters: The legal concept of scienter, or the required state of mind to be held liable for certain actions, is central to white-collar crimes like fraud.

Catch up quick: Musk’s trial kicked off on Wednesday, with both sides giving opening statements to the jurors. Importantly, the jury is to assume that Musk’s tweets were false statements and he acted recklessly in posting them.

• But jurors will have to determine whether he (and separately, Tesla) knew these statements were false, as well as whether they were material. That is, could they influence investors’ actions and cause financial damage.

What they’re saying: “[Musk] knew that no investors had confirmed support for the transaction going private,” the plaintiffs' lawyer told the jury after describing meetings Musk held with Saudi Arabia’s public pension fund.

• “Yet [he] tweeted out on Aug. 7: investor support confirmed — past tense,” he added.

The other side: “What Mr. Musk was communicating was that he was serious about wanting to take Tesla private,” Musk’s attorney told jurors, and that the CEO’s understanding was that funding wouldn’t be an issue — only potentially getting shareholder approval.

• He added: “Because of the circumstances, because of the leak [in the...

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