The jury selection process in the trial to determine if one of Elon Musk’s infamous tweets violated U.S. securities laws kicked off on Tuesday.
The trial comes after Tesla’s shareholders sued Musk and Tesla’s board of directors in 2018, alleging that Musk illegally posted on Twitter that funding had been secured to privatize the electric vehicle company. Musk’s post, the shareholders say, artificially manipulated Tesla’s stock price.
“Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured,” Musk said in the Aug. 7, 2018, post. That same day, he went on to say, “investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote.”
On Tuesday, senior federal district court Judge Edward Chen, as well as lawyers for Musk and Tesla’s board, and a group of Tesla’s shareholders, questioned prospective jurors about their ability to serve impartially in a class action lawsuit filed in San Francisco district court.
“If I’m sitting on the sidelines of history I’d like to be there if possible," one male juror told Judge Chen. "It involves so many things: social media, major corporations, securities.”
The shareholders’ claims are similar to those that Musk previously defended against the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nearly two months after the posts, Musk and Tesla settled with the agency for a combined $40 million in civil fines. In addition, Musk agreed to step down as Tesla’s chairman and to pre-publication reviews of his...
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