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New Year, Old Problems: Jury Selection Starts For Elon Musk's 2018 Twitter Fingers

Pepperidge Farm remembers. And so does Twitter.

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Elon Musk The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” – Arrivals

(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

Two words: digital footprint. Elon Musk may be familiar with him now, what with his recent penchant for deleting tweets that could be fodder for an employment lawsuit, but 2018 Elon was a different man entirely. Tales will be told about how this dude economically misled fanboys over meme numbers. Some things don’t change — he is really committed to the bit:

Back in the day, his broadcast to Tesla stockholders leaned a lot more ??? –> profit. Having fell for the okey-doke, the stockholders are back with vengeance and aiming for his pockets. From Reuters:

Jury selection kicked off on Tuesday in a case brought by Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) shareholders who claim Elon Musk’s 2018 statement that funding was “secured” to take the electric car maker private amounted to fraud.

The lawsuit in San Francisco federal court seeks damages for shareholders who bought or sold Tesla stock in the days after Musk’s tweets on Aug. 7, 2018. The company’s shares shot higher and then fell again after Aug. 17, 2018, when the New York Times reported that funding for the take-private bid was “far from secure.”

…

Investors sued in August 2018, shortly after Musk posted on Twitter that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share. “Funding secured,” he said.

In another tweet the same day, he wrote, “Investor support is confirmed,” adding, “only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote.”

Now, I’m not one to call a public figure villainous or anything, but you know things are bad when you’ve (allegedly) gone further than even the Joker’s ethics would allow:

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This looks to be an uphill battle for Musk. And by that, I am not referring to him being so desperate for lawyers that he hires counsel he has nothing but disdain for. In a prior matter, a judge ruled that the contents of Musk’s tweet were untrue and reckless — this trial merely seeks to determine if investors cared about his untruth, whether he knew his fibbing would have spillover effects, and how hard Musk’s coffers will be hit by damages.

As the trial develops, we will keep you posted on its trajectory. One thing worth noting will be that Mr. Musk may take the stand in his own defense. This would not be the first time.

I’d say that I wish him well, but I am committed to speaking truth. Good luck, Bozo.

Jury Selection Begins In Tesla Shareholder Case Over Musk’s 2018 Tweets [Reuters]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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